Mist
by gonyonomaru
Summary: MadaraxOC "Stop! Thief!" screamed the shopkeeper and she quietly cursed before unleashing a smoke bomb on the area. However, the smoke was like a double edged sword because she was unable to see the omnious, Sharingan filled eyes that followed her.
1. The Cliff Jumper

Hello! This is my newest story, a Madara x OC story that is. It is set in pre-canon times, when Madara enforced the law, not broke it. But... he's still somewhat insane.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own this plot and the main female lead.

Mist. An Uchiha Madara love story.

Chapter 1- The Cliff Jumper.

"Somebody stop her! Thief!" screamed the shrill voice of the shopkeeper a young woman was currently robbing.

People twisted around to stare at the tent where the screaming was coming from and the female narrowed her eyes and swore as she pulled out a smoke bomb.

Before anyone could even move a muscle to stop her, she threw the bomb at the ground roughly and thick, white smoke filled the area completely.

Screams and terrified gasps erupted from the crowd and the woman took that distraction to dash through the crowd and into the forest.

However, the smoke was like a double edged sword because it prevented the female ninja from seeing the ominous, Sharingan-filled eyes that followed her.

She didn't stop running for a long time and when she was sure that no one was following her, she stopped to catch her breath.

A few minutes ticked by and she realized that she should check out what she had managed to steal. She reached into her pocket and took out two diamond rings, a ruby necklace, and three emerald bracelets.

She didn't want to steal, but it had to be done. Food was a necessity and the money she would get from this would be enough to buy her a month's worth.

Putting the loot back in her pocket, she was about to leave the lush forest, but she stiffened when she felt the tiniest presence of chakra behind her.

No normal person had this little chakra, meaning whoever was hiding was doing so purposefully.

It was a ninja, just like her.

Her small form turned around in the direction of the chakra and said, "Come out, you're horrible at hiding your presence."

There was a bit of a rustle and all of a suddenly a ton of wind blew in her face, sending her long, silver haired ponytail flying.

When the wind subsided, the woman could see there was a man standing a few feet in front of her.

He had unruly, shoulder length black hair, a strong, somewhat slim build, but the most notable thing about him was his eyes. They were a blazing red and without having lived in Konoha for a long time the female ninja knew it was an Uchiha.

"Care to say that to my face?" was the reply to her earlier comment. She smirked before changing the subject by saying, "Who are you and why are you following me?"

The man squared his shoulders proudly and said, "Uchiha Madara, leader of the Uchiha Clan and commander of Konoha's police force. _Your turn_."

He sneered the last part and the woman narrowed her eyes dangerously at him before saying, "Call me Kasumi, but it looks like my luck has finally run out huh? You saw the loot so you're going to arrest me in a heart beat and I should just give myself up to save us both the hassle."

Now it was his turn to narrow his eyes and she smirked mischievously before adding, "Just kidding!"

Then she ran out of the area as fast as she could by gathering chakra into her feet and she knew Madara was going to catch up to her soon if she didn't do something to throw him off.

It had to be something good though, Kasumi was sure Madara had been in a ton of escape situations already and he knew every trick there was.

She racked her brain for any plan and she smirked when she got a good one. It was risky and somewhat insane, but if it worked she was home free.

The female ninja increased her pace and tried to tell all the butterflies in her stomach to stop trying to crawl up her throat.

A few hundred feet ahead was a large cliff, which had an even larger lake at the bottom of it.

Her plan was rather obvious; jump of cliff, climb out of water, and run like hell.

Yup, this was definitely insane, but it had to be better than sitting in prison surrounded by, shudder, criminals.

The edge of the cliff was already in sight and for a split second Kasumi wondered if maybe she was doing the wrong thing.

Yes, she was doing the wrong thing. She had to stop.

The female ninja stopped right at the edge of the cliff and she was about to give herself up when she felt something extremely hard slam into her back.

Thus sending her over the edge and off the cliff.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

Madara looked down at the quickly nearing ground and cursed.

Why the hell had that stupid woman stopped right at the edge of the cliff!

If she hadn't they wouldn't be here, plummeting off a cliff and to a lake.

The Uchiha cast her a quick glance and he saw that she looked absolutely terrified. She wasn't screaming, but he guessed that it was because she was too busy flailing her hands in the air like a bird.

As if that was going to slow her down.

Madara sighed and reached over to grab her arm, falling off a cliff or not, he still had to capture her and bring her into jail.

The second he grabbed her arm, she glared at him, but then took a huge breath. For the next second, Madara wondered why she took a deep breath and cursed when he was breathless and underwater.

The force of hitting the water had separated them and the Uchiha urgently swam to the top of the lake to apprehend Kasumi.

She was already at the edge of the lake and she looked like she was about to go running to the forest like a drunk, featherless bird from the way she was still flapping her arms and swaying from side to side.

He sighed and ran over to stand behind her. Then, before she could accidentally smack him in the face with her arms he hit her in the back of the neck, thus successfully knocking her out.

Madara picked up her unconscious body and threw her over his shoulder roughly. He was in no mood to somehow get back to the top of that blasted cliff and then lock her in a jail cell.

It was at times like this he didn't want to be _both_ a clan leader and police commander.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

Kasumi opened her eyes slowly.

She had no idea what had happened over the past few hours. She furrowed her brow and tried to remember.

_Cliff... Falling... Water... Uchiha Madara__**...**_

Her green eyes widened when all the events came back to her. She had robbed a jewellery store clerk, Uchiha Madara found her and somehow after that she was falling off a cliff and looking like a complete retard the whole time.

She got up off her small, uncomfortable bed, but then stopped when sudden pain ripped through her arm.

With growing alarm, she pulled her sleeve up to see what the problem was and scowled when she saw a big, nasty black bruise. Coincidentally, it was in the same place where Madara had grabbed her arm.

Why had he gripped her so hard, was he afraid she would fly away from him using her amazing arm flapping skills? Pfft.

Kasumi rolled her sleeve back down and glared at the bars around her. She was in prison.

As she continued to glare, a 'shocking' revelation struck her; she was a ninja and as a ninja she should be able to get out of some stupid jail cell.

Looking around the room through the bars, she saw she was the only one in jail. Good, yes, but it hurt her ninja pride that she was the only one unintelligent enough to be caught.

The female took a deep breath and gathered some chakra in her hand before grabbing the lock and attempting to break it.

Now as she stared incredulously at the small pile of ashes that used to a lock she clearly saw she had overdone it. Was she ever going to get used to the whole 'chakra control' thing?

Probably not any time soon.

She slowly opened the jail door and winced when it made a horrible creaking noise. For a full minute no one burst into the large grey door at the far end of the room and Kasumi let out a happy sigh of relief.

Then she tiptoed to the door, assuming it lead to freedom. Well, her assumption was correct because the second she opened it she was met by the sounds of life.

People were scurrying around in a hurry and no one in the busy street seemed to notice her. However, on closer inspection Kasumi tried not to swear when she saw every single person in the crowd had the characteristics of a typical Uchiha, but with thinner hair than Madara.

The only way to explain being around so many Uchiha's was quite simple; she was in the Uchiha clan base.

The female gulped and tried to think of what to do; if she walked out on the street she could easily be seen by Madara or some other law official, who would definitely ask her what she was doing here.

She took a second to glare at her silver hair, but then threw caution into the wind and walked into the sea of people. Her plan right now was to head in the direction of the large, and very hard to miss gate that led to her freedom and run into the forest.

Blood rushed through her veins as she approached the large, red gate and her foot was almost outside it when she heard the now rather familiar voice of Madara yell, "Where the hell do you think you're going!"

How had he found her so quickly!

Her brain instantly dissolved into mush and Kasumi had to let her instincts screech at her to run in order to get herself to move.

She shot out of the gates like a diabetic kid that ate too much sugar, but she did not stop to celebrate because she knew that Madara was getting closer and closer with every step he took.

The first time she met him, she had seen he was almost a full head taller than her so it was expected his strides were bigger.

This time, Kasumi had no idea where to run so she figured it was finally time to de-mushify her brain so she could think of a plan.

Her brain turned itself back on in order to find a way to escape the most deadly and dangerous man in the ninja world. Even though she was not from Fire Country she knew exactly who he was.

Everyone feared him and those who didn't were killed mercilessly by his hand, which made her wonder, why hadn't he killed her back at the cliff?

Reason decided to pipe into the conversation by helpfully stating that Madara had been training his entire life, while she was just a self taught ninja that knew a few tricks.

Kasumi internally glared at her brain and continued to run. This wasn't working out at all.

She concentrated hard again, there had to be a way out of this. However, she knew that she could not keep running forever and she could not fight because he could smite her with a mere glance with his Sharingan.

In a battle she knew that a ninja had two options; fight or flight. But as she realized she couldn't to either a horrible truth echoed in her mind.

She was going to get caught.

There was no escape, no secret tunnel, no sneaky trick... no hope.

Despair, fear, anxiety and sadness washed over Kasumi and because of that she didn't notice the tiny root sticking out of the ground.

She fell and just as she was going to try and stand up she saw Uchiha Madara walk forward to stand in front of her.

She was trapped.

To be continued...

Dun, Dun, Dun! So what did you guys think of the first chapter? I hope it wasn't too short, thanks for reading!


	2. The Evil Rug

This one should be longer than the first one, I hope.

Chapter 2- The evil rug.

Kasumi crinkled as she felt Madara's heavy boot press down on her back.

"It's over," he said and somehow she got a feeling he had said this phrase thousands of times before.

The female shivered under the glare of the Uchiha clan leader, but she dared not look up into his eyes.

After a small pause Madara continued with, "Kasumi, small time jewellery thief, rouge member of the Mountain clan and now my prisoner."

Her eyes widened in shock before she narrowed them and said, "How did you know about my clan?"

He probably smirked, she could just feel his arrogance level rising as he said, "Silver hair, green eyes, those are the typical characteristics of a Mountain clan member, and not to mention, your name and face is at the top of that clan's most wanted list."

Kasumi sighed, even here she was not safe from the treachery of her clan.

Madara continued with, "The reward for you, a pathetic weak ninja, is quite the number and it makes me wonder what you did to deserve that. So tell me _Kasumi_ what did you do?"

He sneered when he said her name and she frowned as she replied, "I became a ninja. My clan didn't accept that so I ran away."

There was silence for a bit longer until Kasumi felt herself being pulled up by the clothing on her back, she felt like a disobedient puppy that was about to be scolded.

Madara brought her up to his eye level, so her feet couldn't reach the ground and stared at her.

They were so different, he was loved and prized by his clan, but she was hated and hunted.

Finally, the Uchiha broke the silence by saying, "Tomorrow I will send you back to Snow Country, and eventually back to the Mountain Clan."

Kasumi's eyes widened in shock and Madara could see the panic in her eyes, but then it disappeared and it was replaced with a look of pure determination as she said, "I will escape, you know that."

A small frown presented itself on Madara's sharp face and he said, "Alright, but I have no time to deal with you so I will just kill you here and no more trouble will come from you."

A sly smile. "Why dirty your sword, as you said, I'm not worth that, but if you let me go... I'm gone and I promise you will never see me again."

The Uchiha's dark onyx eyes narrowed as he said, "No, you will get what you deserve. You will rot in my prison until your clan come to get you themselves."

"Once again, I will escape," she reminded.

"Then you will die by my hand right here, right now," Madara said in a tone that clearly meant the conversation was over, but Kasumi retorted, "Fine, kill me and prove to yourself that you are too stupid to think of a non-violent, working solution."

Instantly, the female saw she had said too much because he roughly threw her against a tree and grabbed her by the throat.

She knew she should apologize, or beg for mercy, but even if she wanted to she couldn't because her throat was painfully restricted and she couldn't breathe.

"Watch your tongue, bitch," he bit out before tightening his grip on her thin, pale neck.

That's when her panic finally reached her mind; she was going to die. At first she went completely blank and all she could do was stare at the hand that was slowly squeezing the life out of her, but then an idea came to her.

Focusing as much chakra as she could into her hands, Kasumi put them on the one Madara was using to choke her and then twisted to give him an extreme Indian burn.

Without the chakra, Kasumi doubted Madara would even feel it, but the chakra made the attack more effective.

The angry Uchiha immediately let go of her and she fell on her knees and began to cough.

However, as she was trying to catch her breath, Madara walked behind her and in one swift movement hit her on the head, thus effectively knocking her out, again.

Then for the second time that day, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

She was definitely more trouble than she was worth.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

Kasumi wrinkled her nose when it was assaulted by the smell of dust. When she opened her eyes she was it was because of the fact that she was lying on the floor beside a desk.

A desk with someone sitting in it that is.

"You're finally awake," said the annoyed voice of the Uchiha clan leader.

She contemplated muttering something insulting back, but when she felt how sore her neck and head were she decided against it.

Kasumi picked herself up off the floor and looked around the room she was currently in. It was nothing like the prison she had been in, no, it would be an insult to compare the two.

This room was perfectly furnished, had fancy furniture, a large desk half filled with a huge stack of papers and not to mention, everything in the room was dark brown.

After taking a closer look at the desk, she saw there was a little gold plaque which read 'Uchiha Madara'.

So this was Madara's office then.

Then the female looked up at Madara from between the stacks of paper, who looked very busy.

Briefly, she wondered how far she could run without getting caught, but her thoughts were cut short when the Uchiha cleared his throat and gestured for her to sit in the seat in front of him.

Kasumi complied and he began with, "You are a useless nuisance and I want nothing more than to be rid of you, but your previous actions have showed me I'm not that lucky."

She couldn't help but smirk as he continued, "So, until the Mountain clan ninja get here I see that the only thing I can do for now is watch over you."

The female ninja's smirk widened, even if the message was delivered by teleportation, it would take the ninja at least two weeks to get all the way to Konoha.

Getting back to the conversation she said, "You? Watch over me? Why you, and why do I get the feeling it's not going to be very nice?"

Madara finished with another piece of paper before saying, "I will not watch over you the whole time, when Izuna comes back from his mission he will. And this is not some little vacation, you are still my prisoner. It's not meant to be nice."

The office fell silent as both figures were deeply engrossed in their thoughts. Madara was busy with his mountain of paper work, while Kasumi was trying to remember who Izuna was.

She knew he was the brother of Madara and they had the same amount of power, but in different ways.

While Madara was strong with chakra and pure physical strength, Izuna was strong with intelligence and cunning. It was rumoured Izuna could trick his enemies into giving themselves up or falling into their own traps.

Together they were unstoppable and that made Kasumi nervous to no end.

She knew she had two weeks to escape, but how could she if she was around not one, but two impossibly strong Uchiha's?

Then she remembered two things, one, Madara didn't answer her question as to why he was watching over her in the first place and two, Izuna was not in the base right now.

This was her tiny little window of opportunity, if she could somehow get Madara off her back she would be free.

Her train of thought was interrupted when Madara threw a pen at her and said, "Make yourself useful and write a letter of condolences to Star Country's lord, he recently lost his son in an explosion."

At first Kasumi just stared blankly at the Uchiha, but when he look up and glared at her she realized he was not kidding.

Sighing, she took a blank piece of paper and began to write. Well, at least she was no longer bored.

When she was done the letter she gave it to Madara, who read it quickly and signed it with his name before putting it in a small pile to his right.

The silence continued for quite some time until it was rudely interrupted by a small, but still very innocent sound.

_Grrraaaarrr_

Madara looked up at Kasumi and she sheepishly smiled and said, "Oh, sorry, I haven't eaten anything all day."

He gave a small grunt in acknowledgement and loudly called out, "Bring a servant in." There were rustling noises outside the door and then a young girl walked in.

She looked a couple of years younger than Kasumi and Madara, making her about 18. (Kasumi is 20, and Madara is 23)

The servant girl bowed by Madara's desk and timidly asked, "What can I do for you Madara-sama?"

He didn't even look up at her as he said, "Food. For her." The girl turned to look at Kasumi, who gave her a small smile, but the girl gave her a hateful glare.

Confused, the rogue ninja followed the girl out the door with her eyes. Then she turned back to face Madara, who gave her a piece of paper with a bunch of names on it.

Before she could ask, he said, "Write condolence letter to all of them." Kasumi nodded and replied, "A lot of important people have died."

The only response she got was a 'hn' so she changed the subject completely by saying, "Do you have any male servants?"

This time he looked up at her, only to raise one perfect eyebrow at her and say, "No, all my men are ninja's and are not gay enough to serve."

The female tried not to grin, he was falling for her little trap. "Oh? So you make the woman serve you? Why the women?"

Now he stopped writing and contemplated what to say. Finally he said, "They are good at cooking, cleaning, and of course serving others."

There was no pause when Kasumi retorted, "What if a woman can do none of that?"

"She is not worthy to be in the presence of a man," he said with no hesitation what so ever and at last an accomplished grin plastered itself all over Kasumi's face.

She stood up from the chair and began walking toward the door. Madara frowned. "Where do you think you're going?"

Stopping to turn around and look at him she said, "It is like you said, I am not worthy enough to be in your presence."

When Madara saw her positively evil grin he stood up from his desk and he was going to yell at the stubborn female, but right at that moment the servant girl opened the door and Kasumi was easily able to slip through the door and dash down the hallway.

Back in the office, Madara sat back down in his seat and dismissed the servant. He had no more time to deal with Kasumi, but that didn't mean he was just going to let her walk.

No, not at all, because Madara knew Kasumi had gone running in the direction of where Izuna was now.

Earlier that day, he had told Izuna about her so if he saw her he was not going to let her pass.

Madara let a small satisfied smirk fall onto his lips as he thought about how lucky he was that Izuna was coming back from his mission right this moment.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

This was just so suspicious.

There was not a single person in the hallway. No maids, ninjas and most importantly, no Madara.

Kasumi walked down the hallway in search of a window. If she was able to get outside then the rest of the escape would be easier.

However, she hadn't seen a single window yet and it kept bothering her that Madara was not coming after her.

She wasn't complaining, but she didn't think the Uchiha clan leader was just going to let her leave with some clever timing and wording.

"Who do we have here?" a voice suddenly whispered into Kasumi's ear and she instantly jumped to the side.

To her right she saw a man with the same height as Madara, but with a slimmer build and thinner hair. His face had some similarities to Madara and now Kasumi knew exactly who this man was:

Uchiha Izuna.

"Ah, Kasumi, Madara has told me a lot about you," Izuna said in a light tone.

The female smiled politely and said, "I'm sure none of it was nice."

Izuna chuckled a bit before saying, "So, where's my brother?" Smirking, Kasumi said, "In his office, but I wouldn't suggest you go in there because he's in a rather grumpy mood. I wouldn't be surprised if he was ripping all of his papers to shreds right now."

The Uchiha nodded, but then in a much more serious tone he said, "Well, I should bring you back to him now."

It was Kasumi's turn to chuckle as she said, "No, he practically kicked me out because he doesn't want me around him."

Izuna shook his head, picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, all before she could even squeak.

Clearly upset she yelled, "Hey! Put me down! I don't want to be anywhere near that stupid asshole that likes to knock me out!"

Kasumi felt herself being let down to stand on her own again and she was going to thank Izuna, but instead she gulped when she heard some 'stupid asshole' clearing his throat.

"I thought I already told you to watch your tongue," Madara growled and the female, who instinctively stepped behind Izuna.

"I... erm... why did we get here so fast?" she asked sheepishly because she remembered it took her five minutes of wandering to get to Izuna, but it took him only mere seconds to get her back to Madara.

Madara replied, "It is our self-invented teleportation technique. Now, go with Izuna." Kasumi sighed, but did not object, she would rather go with Izuna than stay with Madara, who was probably going to try and get revenge for what she had said.

The younger Uchiha nodded and began walking out of the room, stopping only to wait for Kasumi to follow him.

He led her in the opposite direction then before and eventually they made it to a very fancy looking room. It was furnished just like Madara's office, but the only difference was that instead of a desk there was a bed.

And beside the bed was... a little rug that was typically used as a dog bed.

Izuna spoke first, "Madara wants you to sleep here." Kasumi smiled and said, "Wow, what a nice bed, are you sure that's what he said?"

He almost winced, almost. "No, not on the bed, that's where Madara sleeps... he wants you to sleep on the little rug."

_Silence._

"WHAT!"

_More silence._

"Oh, you were kidding weren't you? Ha, Izuna you're funny."

Izuna shook his head and said, "My lady, I do not kid about... this."

The two figures stared at each other before Kasumi walked out the door and down the hallway.

Izuna stifled a sigh, now he had the 'fun' job of convincing Kasumi to literally sleep at the feet of her captor.

The female walked to the nearest door she saw, flung it open and walked inside. This room was as neat as Madara's, but it had lighter tones and no rug.

She sat on the bed and said, "I will not sleep on that... rug... so I will sleep here, or any other bed that is not in any way connected to Madara."

The younger Uchiha walked closer to her and said, "No, I'm afraid you don't have a choice. You will sleep where Madara wants you to. Oh and by the way, this is my room."

Suddenly, before she could do anything, Izuna grabbed Kasumi, everything began to swirl and she was back in Madara's room, but now alone and on the rug.

When she recovered from the slight shock of teleporting she dusted herself off and stood up.

Looking around the room again, she saw a window and instantly hope surged through her. She felt Izuna's chakra back in his room so she knew she would not be able to escape, but at least she knew where she was going to sleep.

This tree. This beautiful and very conveniently placed tree outside Madara's window.

She quietly opened the window, sat on the ledge and looked down. She was on the second floor and she could easily step onto the tree.

Carefully, she stepped on the closest branch and then crawled to a much thicker one that could fully hold her weight.

Sure, it was not the most comfortable place to sleep, but anything was better than sleeping in the same room Madara.

Now, Kasumi was sure Madara would never let her sleep on the tree, so she had to get some sleep now before he found her.

If he was going to force her to lie beside his bed there was no way she was going to get a wink of sleep.

With that problem temporarily resolved, the young female yawned and fell asleep in the tree.

To be continued...

Yes! This chapter is longer than the first one :) Any reviews?


	3. The Tree Bed

XD Chapter three! It gets a bit dark in the beginning, but don't think Madara is a total ass until you the next chapter... However, I have to make sure he's not too much of an ass or well, Kasumi will hate his guts and nothing will work out.

Chapter 3- The tree bed.

_Thud!_

"Owww, what the hell!"  
Kasumi groaned and got up off the ground.

Wait a second, wasn't she sleeping in a tree?

The female looked up at her 'bed', but on it she saw Madara, who was climbing down.

Wiping some of the dirt off herself, she said, "Why did you push me off? It's not even morning yet!" She gestured at the black, star filled sky.

Madara ignored her question and said, "You are not sleeping in your designated place."

Still grumpy from being woken up Kasumi replied, "Oh, sorry Mr. I-like-designating-things-and-using-fancy-words I didn't know you didn't like it when people slept it trees, damn it!"

That's when her brain woke up and fearfully informed her she had said way too much.

However, it was too late because Madara dangerously narrowed his eyes at her and took two intimidating steps forward.

Responsively, Kasumi took two steps back. He took a step forward, she one back.

This cycle continued until her back hit the traitorous wall behind her, leaving only a couple of inches of space between her and Madara.

She felt rather claustrophobic so she put her hands in front of her in a vain attempt to protect those few inches.

Madara didn't seem to like this and he roughly grabbed her wrists, only to pin them against the wall.

Kasumi tried not to look too afraid, but she felt so horribly small with him looming over her. It was hard to breathe and she constantly had to remind herself to do so.

Everything was still for a while until Madara brought his face to her eye level and then brought it forward, thus making their noses almost touching and forcing Kasumi to look into Madara's cold, dark eyes.

Finally he spoke, "You're afraid of me aren't you?"

She tried to muster a glare, but instead she grit her teeth when he tightened his grip on her wrists.

It. Hurt.

He spoke again, "No escape, no where to go, do you see where this is going?"

The last part he whispered into her ear, causing her to shiver.

After what seemed like an eternity, Kasumi defiantly whispered, "If you're just going to try and break my wrists, why don't you hurry up and leave."

Madara practically growled at her and instinctively activated his Sharingan, no one dared to speak to him like that.

When she saw the raw murderous power glaring at her she went completely limp, except for her eyes, which closed shut as tightly as they could.

He sneered, "Look. At. Me."

No response. He spoke again, but this time the killer intent could easily be heard, "Look at me. _Now_."

Still no response, but with his Sharingan he could see her heart rate had increased tenfold and her breathing was now short and quick.

With a cruel smirk on his lips, Madara let go of one of her hands and _slowly_ wrapped it around her neck. There was a small bruise left over from last time.

Kasumi's eyes flew open when she realized she couldn't breathe and she was met by the smirking face of Madara.

She still couldn't breathe, but with the last of the breath in her lungs she whispered, "Stop... let... me go."

"Only if you agree to never disobey me again," was the crystal clear response. It took her every last bit of effort her conscious brain had to say, "..._No_..."

Seething, Madara tightened his grip on her neck even more and he watched with some satisfaction as panic swam through her eyes, before it was replaced by pain and then dullness.

He dropped her body on the ground roughly and he heard her take in a much needed breath, followed by a fit of coughing.

Madara looked down at her with a glare and said, "You are my possession, don't forget that."

Then he disappeared and Kasumi was all alone on the ground, still coughing. She seriously thought she was going to die just now.

"Need some help?" a voice cheerfully said.

The poor female nearly choked to death from shock when she saw Izuna standing beside her with an outstretched hand.

She muttered a 'thank you' and stood up before walking over to her 'bed'.

Izuna gave her a quizzical eye brow raise and said, "What are you doing? You do know there is an easier way to get inside Madara's room."

Scoffing, she replied, "I'm not trying to get inside that idiot's room, I'm trying to get back on my bed. Don't ask."

The younger Uchiha nodded and also began climbing up the poor, clearly unprepared tree.

Before either of them could even gasp or jump to the side the tree made a horrible snapping noise and fell right on top of the unsuspecting couple.

"AHH I can't feel my leg!... oh wait.. yes I can... IT HURTS!"

Kasumi groaned and watched as Izuna untangled himself from a bunch of branches, unharmed.

"Did you get hurt?" he asked after he saw the large gash on her leg, which looked pretty funky because it was in the shape of a twisted-looking lightning bolt.

"Why no Izuna, I'm perfectly fine. I just like sitting on the ground and watching my leg bleed out!" she started out calmly, but to the end of the sentence she was screaming.

He chuckled as he helped her up and he heard her mutter some 'intelligent' words when she saw she would be unable to walk.

Kasumi's eyes went dark and she frowned deeply. Now that her leg was hurt, she would be unable to escape.

After Madara had clearly demeaned her to be an object she wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

Izuna broke the tense silence by saying, "Don't look so down, the Uchiha medics can heal that completely. It won't even scar."

Instantly her eyes lit up and she began hopping down the side of the building on one leg in search of a door, all the while saying 'I'm off to heal my leg!'

The Uchiha chuckled and followed her, she was going the wrong way.

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"Miss, how did you get this injury?" asked an elderly Uchiha woman, who looked somewhat perplexed by the shape of the wound.

"Oh, a tree fell on me," Kasumi replied as if it was a regular occurrence. Knowing her, it probably was.

The woman shook her head slightly and put her hands over Kasumi's injury. Suddenly, her hands began to glow and the female was able to feel as her wound got smaller and smaller.

When all was done she reached over to roll her pant leg down and as a result the Uchiha woman was able to see her bruised wrists and neck.

"Miss! What are those from?" she asked urgently and Kasumi grimaced, she forgot about those.

"It's nothing, just another day around Madara when he's PMS'ing," she replied with a small, fake-looking smile.

The woman was about to say something else but Izuna interrupted, "Want to grab a bite to eat?"

Kasumi's eyes lit up happily and after she thanked the healer she was off with Izuna to the kitchen.

As they were walking Izuna said, "You do know Madara is a man, so he can't exactly have PMS."

She nodded and replied, "I know, but have you seen his eyelashes? They are so long and feminine I'm almost jealous. Almost. And not to mention his hair, no other Uchiha I've seen has such volumized hair! It screams 'I take care of my hair because I'm actually a girl'!"

Izuna chuckled and turned a corner, they were now at the kitchen. Of course it was dark because it was still the middle of the night.

"What would you like to eat?" he asked and she instantly responded with, "If you have anything that looks like Madara I would like to stab it multiple times before setting it on fire and eating the remains."

_Silence._

"Dango it is," the Uchiha answered after trying to imagine Kasumi ripping apart a Madara shaped cookie.

They ate comfortably and she was very happy to get some food in her system after having nothing for nearly an entire day.

"Hey look! The sun is coming up!" Kasumi cheered when pure golden light shone in through a window.

"Yes it is, but I have some news to tell you," he said and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously when a large smirk formed on his lips.

"Oh no, don't tell me it has something to do with Madara," she muttered. Izuna nodded and continued, "Actually, he's the one that told me the news."

She was listening intently now, if it was bad news she would need to get all the information she could.

"Madara has decided the best thing you can do to occupy your time for the next two weeks while waiting for your clan to come pick you up is sit in his office and do his work."

This was not good news. No, this was horrible, horrible news.

"He wants me to sit in his office for... two weeks?" she asked cautiously while trying to wrap her head around the idea.

Izuna nodded and Kasumi said, "By the time this day is over, you will see I will have no hands because my wrists will break, turn blacker than they are now, and then fall off."

He didn't know if she meant that her arms would fall off because of all the writing or Madara's constantly grabbing them.

She sighed and shook her head. All jokes aside, this day would be hell.

"Wait... I have an idea!" she exclaimed happily. "Izuna, do you have any medieval armour lying around?"

"...ah...no," he said while resisting the urge to bury his face in his hands.

Kasumi laughed at Izuna's facial expression and said, "Ha, that's not my actual plan I just wanted to see what your reaction was. My actual plan is this: First, I need a shower and a comb, second I need those funny glasses that make it look like your eyes are open, but really they're not and third I need a cute little kitten so that every time he will try to attack me I'll whip out the kitten in defence."

The room went silence except for the sound of Kasumi catching her breath, that was a long thing to say in one breath.

Izuna sighed at the absurdity of the plan, but said, "Fine, I'll let you shower and clean yourself up but forget the glasses and the kitten."

Her face fell, but lit up again at the idea of scrapping the layer of dust and dirt off herself.

Kasumi jumped up from her seat and strode down the hallway in search of the bathroom.

The Uchiha grabbed one last piece of dango and went after her, once again she was going in the wrong direction.

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Madara sat in his office with a frown. Maybe this had been a bad idea.

He sighed for what seemed like the millionth time when he saw Kasumi drawing a picture of him on a blank piece of paper.

At first you would think that if someone was drawing a picture of you it would be nice, but not in this case.

She finished with a happy exclamation and showed her piece of work to him proudly.

It... it was special.

On that poor innocent piece of paper was a large drawing of a blob with long, spiky hair, a large frown, a pig nose, tiny eyes, and large eyelashes that reached over his forehead and off the page.

He ripped it to shreds.

"Noooo my ART!" she yelled before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Madara growled, "Stop wasting my time and paper! Do your work you stupid bitch!"

Instantly, her face went serious and from behind a large stack of papers she took one that was about half its size.

"I have been doing my work. All of what you gave me is done." Her voice was cool and even, had she been talking with someone not as powerful they would have felt it cutting into them like a knife.

Madara leaned back in his seat and glared at her steadily before grabbing the pile and checking to make sure what she had said was true.

It was.

"You got lucky," he said and he saw a satisfied smirk form on her lips.

"Does this mean I am done for today?" she asked and her voice was back to its former cheerfulness.

He contemplated her sudden mood swings for a second before saying, "Yes, you can spend the rest of the day with Izuna."

Kasumi gave him a smile and walked out the door, but not before saying, "Wow, I didn't even have to whip out my kitten."

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"Fear my little kitten of doom!" Kasumi yelled happily as she threw a piece of paper with a picture of a kitten on it at Izuna.

He caught it and after giving it a curious glance, threw it to the side and said, "How was your horrible day?"

A grin lit up her face and Izuna wondered if maybe those hours in Madara's office had made her insane.

"You should have seen the look on his face!" she began. "I drew a picture of him and then when he started yelling at me I did the whole 'I'm so serious' thing and showed him I finished all my work!"

Izuna sighed, only she could get excited about something like that.

Calming down she sat down in a chair and said, "I want to go back."

Now Izuna's facial expression changed to worry as he said, "You want to go back to Madara's office... because if you do it's one of the signs of insanity."

She frowned. "No! I want to go back to my little make-shift house in the middle of the forest."

After seeing his confused look she added, "Before Madara 'found' me I had a wonderful little dug out. It took me so much effort to get it though... there was this bear... and well... it didn't want me to take it's house and you can see where this is going..."

Izuna nodded and said, "Yes, you chased out some poor, innocent bear and took it's home."

"Why are you making me look like the bad guy?" she demanded, but then sighed and closed her eyes.

If she tried hard enough she would be able to see it and it gave her a warm fuzzy feeling.

"So in other words, you want to go home," Izuna paraphrased.

Kasumi nodded and he continued with, "Why did you escape in the first place?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him, he looked like he actually cared, but she knew it was just to get information.

Nonetheless, she was tired of holding everything in and since she was just as human as everyone else she wanted to share her burden with someone else. She knew it made her seem weak, but she was just so... tired.

"My village was never home, it was just... a place I had to stay. All the women of my village were forced to be the servants or wives of the men. They even made a law that women couldn't be ninja," she began and closed her eyes again.

Then she saw it, as if she was back in the village. It was surrounded by sky scraping, snow covered mountains and for most of the year there was snow on the ground.

The houses were simple and wooden, but their simplicity balanced the complicated lives of the villagers.

Kasumi continued, "One day, I decided to be the first female ninja in my clan and began to train secretly. I had seen the boys of the village training multiple times and if I kept trying I would eventually be able to do a few jutsus."

She saw herself standing in the middle of a small snow covered clearing and trying to do various seals to produce a jutsu.

It took a long and horrible process of trial and error before she figured out her first jutsu: The ice claw jutsu.

Kasumi took a shaky breath in. "It was working for a while, but then one of the women saw me training and reported it. I was devastated, I never thought a woman would betray me... but there was no helping it... I had to run away."

Now she saw herself hastily throwing her few meagre belongings into her backpack.

"I tried getting my things, but they trapped me in my room. I used the very first jutsu I had learned, the Ice claw jutsu, to tear my way through the wall and out into the forest."

Izuna looked at her intently, at least he now knew why she had nothing with her when she first came.

"For some reason they didn't follow me... maybe they thought I was going to die all by myself. But I didn't and I somehow made it here... the rest you know," she finished and let out a heavy sigh.

It felt so good to have that finally off her chest.

The younger Uchiha nodded and said, "Thank you for sharing, and it almost makes me want to be sympathetic, but this is the ninja world. It is cruel, without exception."

She chuckled and said, "Good, I'm glad you didn't sprout any fake, peachy crap."

He chuckled too, but then he sobered and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Madara wanted me to tell you he wanted you to go back to his room and sleep on that little rug, no more climbing out of windows."

Kasumi frowned, crossed her arms and stated, "No. I may be weak, but I am proud and there is no way in hell I'm even going to touch that thing."

Izuna smirked and before she knew it, she was lying on the rug and Madara was looking down at her with mild surprise on his face.

"Oh crap."

To be continued!

Thanks for reading, any reviews?


	4. The Sharingan Dream

:) Chapter 4! Warning: Some Madara assism in this one...

Chapter 4- The Sharingan dream

Madara looked down at Kasumi with mild surprise on his face and she looked up at him with something akin to fear and confusion.

"Oh crap," she muttered when she realized she was back in Madara's room and on that stupid rug.

The awkward silence continued for a few more seconds until Madara said, "So you decided to obey me for once?"

Scoffing she replied, "Hell no, brainless Izuna put me here... but uh... I'm just going to leave now."

Kasumi stood up and began inching toward the door, but Madara grabbed one of her wrists and said, "You think you're going to get out of this room?"

She gulped and tried to squirm her poor wrist out of his grasp. The pathetic attempt only pissed him off further and he growled, "Stop. You're not going anywhere."

She ignored him, but this time tried using chakra to aid herself. Finally, Madara frowned and pushed her against a wall. Then he glared down at her and said, "Possessions aren't supposed to resist."

Narrowing her eyes she demanded, "Who do you think you are? I don't even know you and you don't know me! You have no right to call me a possession and force me to sleep here, like you said, I'm your prisoner so maybe I should be in a jail cell! Now let me go!"  
Madara seemed a bit taken back by her outburst, over the past two days he had never heard her yell or rant like this.

However, she had over stepped her boundaries and _she_ was the one that had no right to speak to him like that.

She hadn't even seen it coming, no, but maybe she should have been expecting it for yelling at the most powerful man in the ninja world.

He pulled her forward by her captive wrist and with his other hand he hit her square in the stomach. Her eyes widened in shock and blood began to trickle down from her chin.

"I am Uchiha Madara; I have every right to do anything I want. Or did you forget that, maybe I should remind you," he sneered at Kasumi, who was crouching down holding her stomach in pain.

Madara grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her up to stand again. Her eyes were shut tightly and she was frantically trying to figure out why she had said _that_.

It... it just flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. Now she was in deep trouble and she knew she should apologize, but she had to be proud and not back down.

That was her ninja way.

"Madara..." she said his name for the first time and it sounded strange, but she continued, "I am a prisoner not a possession, maybe you're the one that needs reminding."

Her voice sounded resigned and she knew that for contradicting him she was going to be in even more trouble. But she didn't care, she was not an object and she had to make that absolutely clear.

The Uchiha clan leader tightened the grip on her wrist and frowned when he realized she was right.

In disgust he let go of her wrist completely and in a calm, clear voice said, "You are correct. You will spend the rest of your time in prison."

He heard her let out a small sigh of relief and he walked out of the room. She followed soon after and he led her down the long hallways of the Uchiha clan mansion until they got to a large door.

Madara opened it and she walked into a large grey room with no windows. She heard the door close behind her and after she was sure he was gone she let a small smile form on her lips.

She was sure he was going to kill her right then and there, but she was lucky.

Looking around, Kasumi saw the room was surprisingly large for a jail cell, but its size only made the few items in it seem smaller.

There was a bed and a small screen, behind which was an even smaller bathroom.

The female walked over to the bed and sat down, this was going to be where she would spend the rest of her time until she would be taken back to the Mountain clan, or that's what was supposed to happen.

Lying down, she closed her eyes and told herself to get as much sleep as possible.

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Kasumi's eyes flew open when she felt water all around her.

She frantically looked around and she was shocked to see there was a foot of water in the room, and it was increasing.

Her clothes were a bit wet and she still had no idea where the water had come from, or why the room suddenly didn't have a door.

By now, the water was at her knees and she was about to jump on the bed to get away from it, but to her dismay it was gone too.

But... that's impossible... she had just been lying on it.

Her breathing was now fast and her heartbeat thundered in her head, this could not be happening.

To further add to her panic, the ceiling began dripping too, but it was not water.

Kasumi gasped when blood began dripping down the walls, dying the water red.

She clutched her head, this could not be happening... it was just so unreal... but no... it _felt_ real.

The blood red water was now up to her waist and Kasumi took several deep breaths to calm herself down and began to think. She had to get out of here, but how?

First, she had to find where the water was coming from. So, she did a simple hand seal to make two clones.

Yet, they didn't appear and she tried again, only to get the same result.

Her train of thought crashed and blew up when she felt something slide past her leg and then grab it.

She reached into the water to try and get it off, but she was shocked to find there was a thick chain around her leg, and it was connected directly to the ground.

How? There had been no chain when she looked around the room before she went to sleep.

Gathering all of her strength, Kasumi yanked at the chain, but it was just too strong.

The water was now at her ribs and she knew she had only a little bit of time before the water would make it above her head.

Once again she tried to get the chain off her foot, but her heart skipped a beat when another chain reached out of the ground and grabbed her hand.

Then the chain flew out of the water and connected to the ceiling, thus making Kasumi have her hand hanging in the air.

Now she couldn't bend down to reach the chain on her leg. She swore, where were all these chains coming from?

Suddenly, a realization struck her; she knew who was behind this:

Madara.

She should have known he would have never let her go without punishing her for acting out the way she did.

Her heart was racing as she took a deep breath and yelled, "Madara! I know you're behind this!"

There was no reply, but the walls seemed to shake a bit as she heard a deep voice chuckling.

Again she spoke, "Stop this, I didn't mean to offend you back in your room! ...I just wanted to stand up for myself... I... I'm sorry!"

Kasumi grimaced when there was no reply, but she gasped when she saw the water was now at her neck.

"No... no...Madara..." she whispered before taking one last deep breath before the water went over her head.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and all she saw was red, red, and more red.

She had no idea what to do next, but she almost breathed out all of her precious oxygen when she felt her free leg and arm be grabbed by chains and pulled to the sides.

Now there was nothing she could do, all she had control over was how long she could hold her breath, but it was not long.

Kasumi closed her heavy eyes, she didn't want the last thing she saw to be red.

All of a sudden she heard the echoing of footsteps, but that's impossible, she was underwater.

She opened her eyes again and she saw a dark figure walking through the water and toward her. It opened its eyes and she saw it had blood red eyes and a smirk on its face.

When it was close enough Kasumi's eyes widened when she saw it was Madara. His smirk grew and out of nowhere he pulled out a large sword.

He licked the sword with an evil glint in his eye and before she could even close her eyes he plunged deep it into her stomach.

The shock forced all of the air out of her lungs and pain ripped through her brain. To further her pain, Madara twisted and because of the shock she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with water.

White spots began to form in her vision, and the last thing she saw before everything went black was the smirking face of Madara.

For the first time since they had met... he actually looked happy.

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Kasumi's eyes flew open and from the sheer shock of what she had just seen she jumped off her bed and looked around the room with large, frantic eyes.

Then her hand reached for her stomach, didn't it just get stabbed?

Confusion blinded her as she wondered why there was no injury, the room was completely dry and there were no chains in the places she had seen them.

She sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath. It's okay... it must have been a bad dream.

Kasumi frowned, some dream! It felt so real... but she was alive so it couldn't have been.

Sighing, she laid back down on the bed. She didn't want to sleep anymore, but this was the only furniture in the cell so she had no choice but to be on it.

Her tired eyes closed again, but not for long because the second she did she saw the face Madara had right before she woke up.

It looked... happy and that bothered her. What kind of person would be happy when they kill someone?

She shook her head, there was no guarantee he would actually react like that because it was a dream, nothing more.

Then she spent the next twenty minutes convincing herself it had only been a dream, but fell asleep.

Dream or not, she was still tired.

...

Some time later, the door to the cell opened and in walked the maid that had glared at Kasumi back in Madara's office three days ago.

She held a tray of food and she frowned when she saw the person she had to deliver it too.

It was that pathetic woman who thought she was a ninja, Kasumi. She dropped the tray on the ground and she watched with some satisfaction as she jumped up off her bed and looked around.

When Kasumi saw the open door and then the maid she smiled. It was a cross between a normal smile and a calculating one.

She walked a bit closer to the maid, looked down at the food and cheerfully said, "Thanks for bringing me my food! I thought I would eventually have to eat my way through the wall."

The maid looked a bit taken back by her cheerfulness and she hesitantly said, "It was only orders... no need to be thankful for something I didn't want to do."

Kasumi's smile never faltered and she said, "Nice socks."

Confused, the maid looked down and Kasumi took that perfect opportunity to hit the maid on the head swiftly.

She fell to the ground with a thud and the female ninja sighed, she didn't want to hurt people, but the door was open and she just had to get out of here.

Not once during her stay here had she forgotten about her mission to escape the Uchiha clan base. She had been carefully watching everything that was going on and trying to memorise the layout.

Slowly, she snuck out the door, closed it behind her and tip toed down the hallway. There was no one around and she guessed it was because it was already late evening.

She tried to keep her chakra as low as possible as she walked around in search of window. Something that had never ceased to amaze her was the complete and utter lack of windows in the Uchiha clan base.

Her efforts continued for some time until she realized she should find an open room, go inside it and see if there was a window.

The first few rooms she found were either closed or windowless, but the fifth door eerily opened all by itself.

Kasumi peeked into the room carefully, but she gasped when she saw Madara standing in it, looking at her.

"Finally decided to join me?" he questioned and she could tell he was annoyed by the way his lips were turned down slightly.

"Actually no, maybe we should reschedule to like... never," she replied and she was about to go running down the hallway away from him, but all of a sudden he was standing in front of her.

"You're not going anywhere until I'm done with you," he bit out and Kasumi backed up a couple of steps into the room and out of the hallway.

The door closed with a loud thud, which made her wonder how he had done that without touching the door itself.

"Let's not be so hasty... umm... maybe we should talk in more favourable circumstances?" she offered, but he just glared at her and stepped forward so he could loom over her.

"You have made it clear you want to leave and I am willing to make you a deal," he said and she listened intently.

"It is a simple physical challenge, and if you win you will be free to go," Madara's elegant voice spoke.

She hesitated for a second and looked into his eyes to see if there might be a sign in them, but she abruptly closed them when she saw his Sharingan was activated.

"Too late," he said and his voice seemed to echo around her. Kasumi slowly opened her eyes and gasped when she saw she was alone and standing back in the grey jail cell.

The only difference was that in the middle of one of the blank walls there now was a thin, dark tunnel.

Suddenly she realized what was going on; all of this was Madara's plan. The dream, the challenge, it was all in his genjutsu.

She cursed, how had she not seen through it?

"Are you ready for the challenge?" Madara whispered into her ear, causing her to jump to the side and stare at him with wide eyes.

For a second she stayed like this, but then she sobered and calmly replied, "Fine, what do I have to do?"

He smirked. "First of all we set the stakes. If you win, you are free to go, but if I win... you will be my prisoner for the rest of your life. I will not let your clan get you back. Do you agree?"

She gave him a long calculating glare, she had everything to win, but if she lost... she might as well be damned to hell. At least her clan wouldn't get her.

Finally, she sighed and said, "I agree."

His smirk grew a bit wider. "Good. The challenge is simple, I have designed a maze and you need to find your way to the end of it before I get you. You win if you make it to the final room of the maze and I win if I make you unable to continue."

Kasumi gulped, she didn't like the sound of the 'unable to continue' part. Then Madara looked at the tunnel at the end of the room and said, "You get a two minute head start."

She wasted no time and began dashing along the tunnel. It may have started out small, but now it was three times as wide the hallways back in the Uchiha clan base and it was as tall as the tree that had fallen on top of her.

This was good, she had lots of space.

The small female continued to run down the unturning hallway until she saw the one thing she didn't want to see right now.

A dead end.

To be continued...

Hehe, another cliffy :) Reviews?


	5. The Truthful History

Yosh! Chapter 5! The Madara assism continues! Hehe

Chapter 5- The truthful history.

A dead end.

No... This could not be true.

Did she miss a turn and run past it?

No. There was nothing, just this long tunnel.

"Time's up," she heard Madara's deep voice somewhere far at the end of the tunnel.

Kasumi looked around for anyway to escape this perilous situation, but after finding nothing she really started to panic.

She began to hear his footsteps echoing off the walls so she threw caution into the wind and did what she thought might possibly help.

Taking a deep breath, she ran at the wall in an attempt to push it if it was like a giant door.

To her surprise, it moved a few inches and she repeated the run into the wall process until there was enough space for her to slide through.

What she saw on the other side truly surprised her: she was standing at an intersection with ten paths, each going into a different direction.

Some of the paths were going straight, but others had stairways going up or down. She chose one of the stairways that led up and dashed up it as fast as she could.

Kasumi could no longer hear the footsteps of Madara so it relaxed her for a bit, but she was constantly worried by the fact that she might have chosen the wrong path.

She didn't know what she was going to do if there was another dead end. The twists and turns continued, but soon enough she started to get tired.

It had been a long time since she had run this much and even though the tunnels were wide it was still nothing compared to the great outdoors.

There she had not been confined to one tunnel and she could have turned anywhere and anytime she wanted to.

Soon, she came to another intersection, but this time there were only two choices.

One led up and other led down. Most humans always try to get to the top of things; all the towers and skyscrapers are a testament of that so Kasumi, being the normal human she was, chose to go up.

As she continued to run she noticed that the walls were starting to close in and the tunnel was getting thinner.

It worried her, but it was for too late to turn back now. She had no idea where Madara was and she didn't want to risk running into him.

Before long, the tunnel was so thin she had to walk sideways to get through. Kasumi turned to look down the tunnel and she was shocked to see light at the end of it.

She increased her pace and when she finally made it to the light she saw it was coming from a large, white room.

Kasumi stepped into the room and looked around. All the walls were a blinding white, but on one of the walls there was a little red dot.

She walked closer to examine it and all of a sudden it blew up into a letter. The letter 'T'.

Her eyes widened as she watched with curiosity as that one letter grow into a word, 'THE'.

She continued to watch and her heart skipped a beat in relief when another word formed. The one word that would make her feel happy, the word 'END'.

It was 'THE END'. A happy smile formed on her lips and she tried to keep herself from getting too excited.

If this truly was the end, did that mean she was free? Completely and utterly free?

"Good work, you made it to the final room on your first try," a deep smooth voice said behind her and she turned around to see it was Madara.

She gave him a happy smile and replied, "Yes! Does this mean I'm free?"

He didn't reply but instead looked at the wall with the red words on it. Another word was forming.

Kasumi's smile was replaced with a look of pure horror when she saw three more words appear after 'the end'.

The end... is not here.

She turned back to look at Madara, who was smirking as he said, "How cute, you actually thought you made it? You're even more naive than I thought."

Her feet moved at their own accord as she backed up a couple of steps and she stuttered, "No... but... you... you tricked me? W-was there even a true end to this? No, there never was... it was all a lie?"

He chuckled. "Good, you've made some progress; I had feared there was no hope for you, _Kasumi_."

The female ninja shook her head and said, "So now what are you going to do? Huh? Another trick? Another trap? Just get it over with; I want nothing to do with it."

Madara took a few strides forward so he was standing right in front of her and whispered, "Oh I assure you, this is no mere trick."

Suddenly, he pushed her flat against the wall and four chains reached out to grab her limbs and tie them down.

She stared at him with wide, frightened eyes. She had no idea what he was going to do, but if she couldn't move it meant it was something painful.

His hand reached over and cupped her cheek. "Don't look so afraid, _you should be terrified_."

Then his hand reached into his pocket and he took out a kunai.

"You are my possession aren't you? So maybe I should put my name on you, and then everyone will know you're mine," he whispered and brought the kunai over to her stomach.

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Madara looked down at Kasumi's unconscious body.

Maybe he had over done it a bit. In the genjutsu she had been completely covered in blood from head to toe, but now her pale skin looked clean and injury free.

He picked her up and began walking back to his room. Perhaps now she would sleep on the rug and listen to him more.

When he made it to his room he dropped her on the rug without a care and he watched with mild surprise that she didn't stir.

Yes, he had over done it.

Then he quickly slipped into bed and fell asleep, he needed to get his sleep now so that when Kasumi did wake up he would be awake as well.

No doubt she would want revenge or another chance to escape.

...

Kasumi's eyes snapped open in the middle of the night. She seemed to be doing that a lot these past few days.

She looked around the room, Madara's room. Frowning when she saw she was on the rug, she stiffened when she realized Madara was here too.

He must be only a few feet away from her since the bed was right beside her.

Was he asleep? She listened and heard the small sound of breathing.

Yes, he was asleep. Being as slow and cautious as she could, she began to crawl along the floor and towards the door.

When she heard a small rustle she stopped moving and breathing. No one jumped out at her so after a few more minutes of silence she continued to move.

All of a sudden, the lights turned on and Madara was standing in front of her.

It was a strange scene, Madara in silky, red pajama pants and Kasumi in mid crawl.

"And here I thought I was going to get some sleep," he said more to himself than her.

She didn't say anything, but waited to see what he would do.

He continued speaking, "I thought that after your little lesson you would obey me, but it seems that's not the case. Maybe I should remind you who your owner is."

Her eyes widened and she stood up quickly. "No, no... that's alright," she mumbled and backed away from him.

He smirked, he could practically feel the fear radiating off her. Well, it was to be expected, who wouldn't be afraid of him after something like _that_.

Kasumi gulped when she saw Madara advancing toward her like a crazy axe murderer about to slaughter a poor, little child.

She knew she didn't want a repeat of what had happened so she knew she needed to do anything to prevent it.

Taking a deep breath, she threw her head back and at the top of her lungs she screamed, "Izuna!"

Madara's eyes widened slightly and before she could scream again he ran over to her, grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth.

Right at that moment, Izuna ran in through the door and looked at the couple.

Kasumi looked completely terrified to have him so close to her, but Madara just looked angry to see him.

Izuna let out a small chuckle, "Well I can see you two are getting along well."

The female let out a muffled cry when he turned around and was about to walk out of the room.

Then Madara frowned and removed his hand from her mouth, she kept trying to bite him.

Finally free to talk she yelled, "Wait! Izuna, don't leave! Your brother is insane, don't leave me alone with him!"

The younger Uchiha shrugged and replied, "Yes, I know he can be a bit 'nutty' sometimes, but I can not help you. Madara owns you until your clan comes to get you."

She looked stunned and she was getting desperate because she was running out of options.

Madara nodded and Izuna left the room, closing the door behind him. Kasumi let out something akin to a pleading whimper and her breathing was irregular as Madara continued to have her in his grasp.

"Now, where were we?" he whispered into her ear and she stopped breathing altogether.

He chuckled. It didn't sound good to her. "Are you finally going to listen to me?"

At first, she was too afraid to say anything, but then she got herself together and said, "No. It doesn't matter how afraid I am, or how much you hurt me. I am not a puppet or possession that will do whatever you want."

Madara still didn't let go of her as he sneered, "It doesn't matter? I think it does, I know you're right on the edge. One more little push and you're mine."

Somehow she was in shape to retort, "So you admit I'm not yours right now?"

He frowned and his left hand tightened around her waist, while his right hand squeezed her neck, thus pressing her closer to his stomach.

Not that it made much difference anyway; she had stopped breathing a minute ago.

"Why do you insist on disobeying me in _everything_?" he questioned with a frown on his face.

She tried to draw in a steady breath and replied, "Why do _you_ insist on treating me like this? You said I was nothing special and yet you're going out of your way to make me suffer. What did I do to you to deserve this?"

He narrowed his eyes; he knew exactly why he was doing this. Kasumi was just like _her_ and anyone that was even slightly similar to _her_ had to suffer.

"Ruka, you know exactly what you did. You tried to kill me and my brother, and for that you will suffer forever," he growled.

Kasumi furrowed her brow and replied, "I'm not Ruka, I am Kasumi! Ka-su-mi! Do you think I'm this Ruka person? Is that why you've been doing all of this?"

Madara closed his eyes for a moment, she had a point... she wasn't Ruka. He sighed, but still didn't let go of her as he said, "Ruka was my step sister. She got along very well with my family, but one night she tried to kill me and Izuna. He was only ten years old at the time..."

He trailed off for a bit, but then continued fiercely, "I killed her. Everyone in my clan called me a murderer because there was no evidence of what she had wanted to do. After that I had to become stronger to protect Izuna and me. Eventually the clan forgot about it and cherished me for my power."

Kasumi's eyes widened, is that the reason he treated women so badly? Madara loosened the grip on her and she was able to say, "Thank you for letting me know..."

She didn't know what else to say, this was still a very awkward situation because he was holding her so closely.

He grunted and said, "Don't think this will change anything, you are still my possession and you will still sleep on the rug."

Kasumi scoffed, "Fine, just let me go. You've been clinging to me like a cat clings to a dead mouse."

Madara complied and she was able to take a deep breath. She never wanted that to happen again.

Then, they both went to sleep in their respective places: Kasumi on the rug, Madara on the bed.

Everything seemed solved. Now they understood each other and everything could go well right?

Wrong, they weren't the only ones in the world now were they?

To be continued...

Any thoughts?


	6. The Deceiving Maid

Haha, time for some chaos! I decided the characters need some trouble to muddle up their lives.

Chapter 6- The deceiving maid.

"Madara-sama, Madara-sama, there is very important news!"

The Uchiha groaned, it was too early in the morning for news.

He quickly got dressed and walked to the door, threw it open and glared at the poor messenger standing behind it.

"M-Madara-sama! I have news, Harashima Senju is here and he wants to talk to you!" the messenger stuttered before running down the hallway and away from the Uchiha.

He sighed, his enemy had come to visit him. This morning was just getting better and better.

Kasumi yawned and stretched on her rug, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Madara turned to look at her and said, "Stay in the room until I come get you." Then he left, leaving a very confused and bewildered Kasumi alone in the room.

Not good.

She stood up and frowned, it looked like he still treated her like a possession. The female ninja shrugged, there was a window in the room and nothing was going to stop her from using it.

If anything she could say she was trying to get some fresh air and fell out. Considering it was her, he might believe her.

She opened the window and jumped. No need to be cautious when windows and jumping were involved.

When she was on the ground she looked around and saw she was in a garden. Last time she had been down here it was dark so she hadn't seen anything clearly.

No one was around so she decided to take some time to look around. The garden was rather simple, but the flowers were some of the most beautiful she had even seen.

Back in her clan there were only a few weeks when flowers were able to grow and compared to these flowers they were weeds.

All of a sudden, she heard a loud crashing noise. It was as if someone was destroying something large.

Without thinking, she ran out of the garden and down a path that went along the side of the building.

She didn't want to find out who was behind the noises because chances were it was Madara.

Kasumi didn't look back as she ran and she stopped only when she heard yelling.

"You want a peace treaty! After all my clan has given to fighting you? I refuse; my clan will not merge with your pathetic Senju clan."

"I know you are upset, but think about your people. You would be saving them from dying anymore."

"That's a lie! This is just another one of your plots to exterminate the Uchiha and I will not fall for it. I care for my people and they will not become your puppets."

"Just think about okay old friend? I want this fighting to end, and so do your people."

After that everything was silence and Kasumi sat pondering who the two voices belonged to.

She thought the first voice was Madara's because it sounded just like it, but she didn't know who the second, much calmer voice belonged to.

Then she heard two sets of feet walking. One was walking away, but the other was coming toward her!

Thinking the owner of the footsteps was Madara; she jumped into the bushes and stopped breathing.

"Are you hiding from me?" said a calm voice and Kasumi was relieved to find out it belonged to the second man.

She peeked out of the bushes and she was a bit surprised to see a man as tall with Madara, but with thin, brown hair and a kind face.

Remembering the previous question she replied, "Oh, no... I thought you were Madara."

He chuckled a bit and said, "I'm Harashima Senju, leader of the Senju clan. You are?"

She climbed out of the bushes. "I'm Kasumi, nice to meet you."

Harashima gave her a small smile and said, "So you heard the conversation?" She blushed and muttered, "Sorry for eavesdropping, but if it helps, I didn't really understand anything."

"It's fine, but I have to go now. It was nice talking to you, Kasumi," he said and left.

Kasumi smiled, if only her conversations with Madara were as civil as this. Then they'd be getting along just fine with no argume-

"Kasumi! Get back here!"

It was Madara.

The female ninja sprinted down the path. She had to find someone to use as a human shield.

It couldn't be Izuna considering he wasn't much help last night, but who else did she know?

She located Izuna's chakra and began running towards it. There was no hesitation as she stood on the ground floor in front of Izuna's window, which was on the second floor, jumped on the tree beside the house, climbed up it, and just as she was about to burst into his window...

"What do you think you're doing?"

Kasumi looked down and saw the very angry form of Madara glaring up at her.

"I was... umm... going to pay Izuna a visit?" she offered.

He didn't seem pleased with that answer and before she could do anything he jumped up, grabbed her and they were now standing back in Madara's room.

Oh, how she hated his teleportation technique.

"Explain this," he growled and gestured around the room. Kasumi gasped, everything was destroyed. The bed was chopped in half and upside-down, the rug was shredded to bits, the dresser was mutated and the walls were covered in thick, black dirt.

He glared down at her and she backed away before saying, "No... Madara... I didn't do this! A few seconds after you left I jumped out the window and I was in the garden. There were crashing noises and I ran, I thought it was you trying to destroy something."

Madara frowned and roared, "You did this and you have the nerve to lie to my face about it!"

Kasumi gulped and backed away even more. She had never seen him this angry before.

He didn't like her attempt at distancing herself away from him so he grabbed her wrists and pinned her against a nearby wall. "You. Will. Pay," he bit out and activated his Sharingan.

She whimpered and once again tried to say she was innocent, but he interrupted her with a rough slap on the face.

The room went silent and Kasumi's eyes began to water from the sting on her face.

Giving one last try at explaining her innocence she said, "I heard you and Harashima Senju talking! I- I couldn't have done this because I was too busy listening!"

Madara tilted his head to the side and said, "So you're saying you didn't do this, but you disobeyed my orders, snuck outside and listened to a private conversation?"

She didn't say anything because she knew it wouldn't help right now. Nothing could help, she looked guilty either way.

He frowned again and said, "I don't believe you, I know you did this, and I will teach you a lesson you will never forget."

Kasumi shivered as Madara let go of one of her hands and wrapped it around her neck.

Then he let go of her second hand and he wrapped his free hand around her waist, drawing her closer.

He hadn't begun squeezing yet so Kasumi had enough breath to whisper, "Do you still think I'm Ruka?"

Madara snapped, he let go of her and punched her in the stomach. Then while she was trying to recover from the shock he threw her against the destroyed dresser and sneered, "No, you're not Ruka, you are my possession."

Taking a couple of deep breaths she said, "You know that's a lie." She would have said more, but she was out of breath and that punch really did a number on her.

Kasumi closed her eyes; she knew she couldn't risk looking into his Sharingan right now.

The Uchiha chuckled, but it was not a happy sound. "Don't worry, this lesson won't be in genjutsu... I want this to be a hundred percent real."

She shuddered, she still didn't want to see what was going on.

He stepped forward to stand right in front of her and she heard a distinct 'clink' of a weapon being drawn.

Her eyes remained closed, but this time it was because a few lone tears threatened to escape out of them.

Now she wasn't going to be able to escape for a long time, if ever at all.

Madara picked her up off the ground and pushed her against the wall with one hand. "Let's make sure you won't be able to do anymore running for a long, long time," he whispered into her ear.

She shivered, but then had to bite her tongue to stop herself from making any noise when he dug his dagger into her arm.

He chuckled again and pulled the dagger out. She could feel the blood trickling down her arm and she couldn't help but be a bit light headed.

Then he brought the bloody dagger up to her neck and made a small, thin cut. She didn't try to move in fear of the wound getting deeper.

Madara must have sensed her fear because he said, "Do you see who is in control, my little possession?"

She didn't contradict him, it was like trying to convince a baby not to cry at night. It was virtually impossible.

He moved the dagger away from her neck and even through the pain she was able to feel a little bit of relief.

Suddenly, he stuck it back into her previous arm wound and deepened it. Kasumi had not been expecting it and a cry of anguish escape her lips.

Her breathing became ragged and she had to bite her tongue until it bled in order to stop any more screams.

Madara seemed pleased with his work so he let go of her and she slouched against the wall, her hand instantly going to try and stop her wound from bleeding.

She gasped when she saw just how much blood there was, she had never had such a deep and painful wound.

However, Madara was far from done with her because the next instant he pulled her up again and thrust that same dagger into her leg, quickly pulled it out and did the same thing to her other leg.

This time she did not cry out in pain; she just stared at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

He pulled the dagger out and let her go. Nothing stopped her fall and she fell unceremoniously on the ground.

A small pool of blood began forming and as black spots were forming in her vision she whispered, "It wasn't me Madara... it wasn't me..."

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

"My goodness! What in the name of all that is holy happened to this poor female?" asked the panicked voice of the head medic at the Uchiha clan base.

Izuna shook his head and said, "I don't know, I found her lying on the floor in Madara's room like this. The entire room was destroyed."

Nodding, the woman began trying to heal Kasumi, but she knew there was only so much she could heal.

Her arm and legs were too deeply damaged to heal completely so they would have to heal on their own.

When she was done, she said, "Don't tell Madara-sama I said this, but I think Kasumi needs to be kept away from him. I don't know what he is going to do next time he gets angry. I fear for her safety, aren't the Uchiha supposed to protect civilians, not harm them?"

The Uchiha agreed, "Yes, I agree, but by law he owns her until her clan comes to get her."

Then they went their separate ways, Izuna carrying Kasumi to a vacant room to rest and the head medic to treat other patients.

When he did find an empty room, he settled the female ninja into the bed and left the room; she needed all the rest she could get.

...

The maid looked at Kasumi's unconscious body with a smile.

"You got what you deserved, you pathetic excuse for a ninja," she whispered.

There was a pause and she continued, "I can't believe Madara-sama actually fell for it... he must have been very angry."

She chuckled, "I should have destroyed his room the second I saw you."

...

Madara was about to walk into the spare room Kasumi was resting in when he heard a small feminine chuckle.

He listened in and he heard the crystal clear words 'I should have destroyed his room the second I saw you'.

His Sharingan activated and he threw the door open. He had to know who was truly behind the destruction of his room.

There he saw a maid, who looked like a kitten about to get sucked into a vacuum as he said, "You destroyed my room?"

She stuttered, "M-Madara-sama... I..." He frowned and yelled, "Spit it out!"

"I only did it for you! I was just giving you another reason to get rid of her!" She gestured to Kasumi's sleeping body.

Madara pinned her to the wall faster than she could blink and sneered, "You. Tricked. Me."

He grabbed her throat and she desperately screamed, "No! Madara-sama, don't do this! I love y-"

Her dead, limp body fell to the ground and Madara didn't even give it a seconds thought as he turned around to see Kasumi staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

When he took a step closer to her bed she tried to move back, but the pain in her legs and arm paralyzed her.

The Uchiha clan leader was about to say something but she stuck her good hand in front of her and said, "No. Don't come any closer, you've done enough for one day."

He could hear her voice waver a bit and he seemed to ignore what she said when he walked right up to her bed and sat down.

Her breathing all but stopped when he took her good hand and held it in his own. "Kasumi, you were right..," he began and after looking into her confused eyes he explained, "The maid, she was the one that destroyed the room."

Her eyes flashed over to the body and she sighed before she said, "It doesn't matter, you didn't believe me..."

Madara squeezed her hand, causing her to jump a bit. "I know I didn't, but if I thought about every single thing I did wrong I wouldn't be the clan leader, forget this happened and move on."

Anger flashed through her eyes, but she restrained her voice as she said, "Forget this? Alright, then let me just get up and we walk around for a bit. Oh, I forgot, I can't walk or use my left arm."

A small sigh could be heard coming from Madara as he said, "This changes nothing. You are still my possession and when you heal everything will go back to normal."

This time, a bit of venom leaked through her voice, "Normal? What is normal? You forcing me to sleep on that damn rug? You torturing me in your genjutsu? Tell me Madara, what part of this is normal?"

She was breathing a bit harder now and she wanted nothing more than for Madara to let go of her hand and leave her alone to suffer.

He narrowed his eyes. "You should be thankful I let you live, not complaining."

Kasumi let a deep frown form on her face as she seethed, "Complain? Who said I was complaining? I was merely stating the facts of my wretched existence in this hell hole!"

Madara didn't like the tone of her voice so he let go of her hand and grabbed the bandaged arm.

He was about to say something, but suddenly Kasumi let out a pained yell and went completely limp.

For a split second he was worried about her well being, but that passed and he frowned as he let go of her and took out some handcuffs.

She already had one good arm to use, and that was one too many.

To be continued...

Yes! The maid is dead! :P Any reviews?


	7. The Midnight Kiss

Yes~! Chapter 7! I guess I should say the 'Madara is a total ass' part continues... Well, at least we know why. *Shrugs*

Chapter 7- The midnight kiss.

She needed to stretch, bad.

Over night she had been lying with her back a bit twisted and now it really, really hurt.

Kasumi opened her eyes to try and figure out why she couldn't move her _right_ arm. The injured one was the left arm, not the right.

She craned her neck to look up and her mouth hung open slightly when she saw it was handcuffed to the bed.

However, her mood lightened when she saw a tray of food lying on her lap.

She didn't even remember the last time she ate and now that she was injured she needed the food even more.

On the tray was a stack of pancakes, a small jar of syrup, a glass of milk, and a bowl of cereal.

The female ninja tried to reach for the cutlery with her left hand, but stopped when she remembered it was all wrapped up and somewhat paralyzed.

But... her right arm was handcuffed to the bed... That bastard! Now she couldn't eat!

Something small and white caught her glance and she was a bit surprised to see it was a note.

'Kasumi, I thought you might like some breakfast. Call me if you need anything, I'm in the office next door. Signed, Madara.'

She glared at the little note; maybe if she glared hard enough it would spontaneously combust.

Stupid Madara, he knew she would never call for his help. She continued to glare at the note, but her eyes decided to look at the food instead, making her drool slightly.

There had to be a way to get the food.

At first she thought about using her legs to somehow move the tray forward enough for her to dig her face into the food, but when she felt the excruciating pain she decided against it.

So now she knew she couldn't use her arms or her legs. But what did that leave her with!

Her head...

Frowning she tried to figure out how her head would help her get food. Oh, how she wished she had a long neck in order to solve problems like these.

Realizing there was nothing she could do she continued to glare at the note. If it did really light itself on fire then maybe Madara would come in if he smelled smoke.

But then what would he do? She doubted he would un-cuff her arm so he would... feed her?

No. He would probably get someone else to do it... like Izuna...

That's it! Izuna would help her get out of this situation. Taking a deep breath, Kasumi leaned back in her bed and screamed 'Izuna!'

She watched with mild amusement as Izuna ran into the room, followed by Madara, who she glared at.

"Kasumi? Did you need something?" Izuna asked, but then took it back when he saw the handcuffs and the tray of food.

He turned to look at Madara and said, "You gave her food, but then you handcuffed her?"

The female didn't let Madara respond as she said, "Yes he did! And you know what else? He left this little note saying I could call him if I needed anything! He knows I would rather kill myself than ask for his help!"

Izuna decided to be very helpful by saying, "Well, I can see this problem has nothing to do with me so I'm going to leave."

"No! You can't leave me alone! For all I know he's going to rip my arms off and hit me in the face with them until I scream bloody murder!" she yelled and all was silent for a while.

It was expected, the image her words painted was a strange one.

Madara stepped out of the way and let Izuna walk out, leaving Kasumi and the Uchiha clan leader alone in the room.

She swallowed nervously; she didn't want to be alone in the room with him now that she had nothing to use to protect herself.

"Kasumi, do you need anything?" he asked calmly, but to her it sounded like he was threatening her.

"No... It's fine, I'm just um... enjoying staring at the food. It's even more filling than eating the food itself," she blabbered, getting quieter and quieter as Madara approached her.

"Why won't you just admit you need _my_ help," he asked as he loomed over the side of the bed.

She was going to make some smart-ass retort, but she was too shocked to when she saw Madara pick up a spoonful of cereal and start bringing it closer to her face.

It looked as threatening as a bomb being pointed at your face, she was terrified.

Madara looked a bit confused when he saw Kasumi staring at the spoon like it was going to stab her in the face.

"Kasumi, it's food, eat," he reminded her, but that only seemed to make her clench her mouth shut even more.

She didn't say anything because she knew the second she opened her mouth he would stick the spoon down her throat and leave her to choke on it.

So she just shook her head and stared up at him. He sighed and sat down on the bed, freaking her out even more.

"You need to eat, your injuries won't heal otherwise... and you'll be stuck here, needing my help, even longer," he said as if he was talking to a fussy toddler.

It seemed to sway her courage a little. He was right, the longer she healed, the longer she would have to stay in his 'care'.

She hesitantly opened her mouth, but the split second she saw his arm move toward her she closed it again.

Madara looked at her shocked facial expression with a smirk, it was her own fault she closed her mouth.

He had managed to stop the spoon from knocking her teeth in, but the contents of the spoon had flown right on her face.

She licked her lips cautiously; this was probably the only food she was going to be getting for a while.

The Uchiha shook his head and in a sterner voice said, "Kasumi, I will not be leaving until you eat every last bit of this food."

She gave him a glare and risked saying, "Fine, if you un-cuff me I will eat it all within two minutes and you can go."

He narrowed his eyes; she was going to be resistant to the very end.

Then he got an idea, if he could hold her mouth open he would simply be able to slip the food in and get this over with.

Kasumi gulped when she saw the tiniest smile form on Madara's lips.

This was not good.

...

"Hey Madara, I was wondering where you put the..." Izuna trailed off when he saw his brother trying to stick a pipe in Kasumi's mouth.

When she saw him she let out a muffled scream and Madara turned to glare at him.

"Izuna, I'm busy now, you can ask me later," he snapped and turned to glare at Kasumi.

The second she had seen the pipe her mouth turned into cement because he still had not been able to get it open.

"Madara... I don't think you're doing this right," Izuna said and it took Madara a lot of will power not to chuck the pipe at him right then and there.

Kasumi nodded her hear vigorously, agreeing with the younger Uchiha.

"Maybe I should help," he added and he saw her face light up with hope. The past five minutes Madara had kept his hand on her face and it was not the most comfortable feeling.

Izuna gestured for his brother to move over and after a long glaring contest he did.

He picked up a spoonful of cereal and watched as Kasumi opened her mouth and let him feed her.

Then she gave Madara a smug look before smiling at Izuna. However, he knew Kasumi would have never let him do this unless she didn't have any choices at all.

When she was half way done the bowl, Izuna asked, "Madara, do you want to try now?"

He smirked as he grabbed the spoon. "It would be my pleasure."

Kasumi's happy look turned to ashes and she clenched her mouth shut again. This didn't deter Madara though, he pinched her nose closed and he knew it was only a matter of moments before she had to breathe.

Just a matter of moments...

Any second now...

The poor female's face was turning purple and she looked like she was about to pass out from lack of oxygen until she at last took a small breath.

Instantly, Madara stuffed the spoon in her mouth and a gagging noise could be heard.

She barely swallowed the food and she yelled, "What the hell was that! Are you trying to kill me! You... you... I hate you!"

The room went deathly silent and Kasumi went pale when she saw the deep frown on Madara's face.

She flinched when he moved, but he didn't touch her. He just stood up and left the room.

Izuna shook his head and muttered something along the lines off 'I knew it'.

Kasumi looked down and closed her eyes. Shortly after, Izuna left the room to go after Madara. He had some very important matters to discuss with him.

Sighing she tried to fall asleep; she wanted the painful feeling of regret to be forgotten.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

It had been a full week since she had last seen Madara.

The worst week of her life, that is.

Izuna had been her only visitor, but he always looked worried and deep in thought.

However, there was a tiny bit of goodness in the week. Her injuries had healed and now she was free to wander around the Uchiha clan mansion, but not the base.

She spent most of her time in the garden, among the flowers.

It was the only thing that seemed to cheer her up in the gloom of the passing days. She knew that in three days her clan would get here and she would be taken back to Snow Country.

There were no flowers like this there.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to enjoy everything around her.

But she just couldn't...regret kept nagging at her soul. It might also have been the fact that she hadn't seen Madara.

Sure all he did was cause her pain, but in a strange and twisted way it made her feel closer to him.

She scoffed, that week of sitting and not going anywhere must have made her insane.

The rest of the day ticked by and soon enough it was late evening. The stars were out and it was extra dark because of the new moon.

Kasumi stared at the sky; it never ceased to amaze her how many stars there were.

They seemed to smile back down at her and she smiled back. This was her favourite part of the day, when she saw the true beauty of the night.

For some reason her negative feelings disappeared at night and she was able to be happy.

Yes, it was strange, but she didn't care. Happiness was all she had left.

Just like the previous night, her thoughts turned to Madara and she wondered what would have happened if she hadn't said...no, if she hadn't spoken at all.

Maybe right now she would be sleeping in Madara's reconstructed room on the new rug, maybe they would be talking.

No, she doubted anything good would happen. She just knew that if she hadn't said a word she wouldn't have been able to see _this_.

She shivered when the wind blew; it was getting colder and colder these past few days.

"You'll catch a cold if you keep sitting out here," a voice whispered in the dark.

Kasumi looked around, but she couldn't see who had spoken. It must have been her imagination, but that voice sounded a lot like... no. He hadn't shown up all week, why would he talk to her now?

More wind blew and it carried more words from the stranger, "Kasumi, are you listening?"

Deciding to play along with her hallucination she replied, "Yes, I'm listening, but since when do I hear voices in the dark?"

This time the voice sounded closer, "Since I decided to talk to you, watching can only get you so much until you get bored."

Kasumi stood up; she didn't like the idea of her hallucination watching her in the dark. What if it wasn't an illusion and a real person?

"You're watching me," she stated and looked around the garden carefully.

Suddenly, the voice was right beside her and it whispered, "Yes, _I take careful watch of my possessions._"

She froze, only one person called her his possession.

Her eyes widened when she felt someone grabbing her hands, but she didn't resist. If it was _him_ she wouldn't be able to.

"Kasumi, Kasumi, Kasumi, you've been so silly these past few days, sitting in the garden for hours," the voice began.

There was a small chuckle and the voice continued, "But I have news for you... you hate me, but _I hate you too_."

Unexpectedly, she felt pain all over her body and everything went black.

...

Kasumi jumped up from the bench she had been sitting on and looked around.

It was about midnight and she was alone in the garden. But... the voice... the pain... what happened?  
She shook her limbs and she was glad to see that nothing hurt. It had just been a bad dream.

Sighing, she sat down and let herself relax, she had to savour every moment of freedom she could get.

The wind blew lightly and again Kasumi heard the words '_I hate you_'.

Is that how Madara felt about her now or what it just her imagination?

She had no idea; maybe he hated her, maybe he didn't. But... she could find out couldn't she?

All she had to do was ask. The only question was: did she want to find out the answer?

She closed her eyes, no, she didn't want to know. The only thing she did know was that she really _didn't_ hate Madara.

It... It just flew out of her mouth before she could stop it.

Kasumi had the urge to rip her hair out, why couldn't she get it out of her mind?

She calmed down a bit, but then she heard someone say, "Kasumi." Thinking it was another dream she said, "Ah, hello again strange voice in my head that hates me. Why won't you let me have a nice dream and leave me alone?"

The voice sighed, "Kasumi, this isn't a dream."

Chuckling she replied, "Sure it isn't, that's what I thought the first time, but no, I won't fall for the same trick twice."

This time the voice sounded a bit annoyed, "Open your eyes, do I _look_ like I'm in your dream?"

She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw Madara standing in front of her. Instantly, she went tense and she barely managed to say, "Madara, uhh... what are you doing here? I um... was trying to... sleep."

He shook his head and said, "Same as always, you're so silly. I was on my way back to my room and I saw you jump up from your seat like you were having a seizure."

Kasumi let out a small, nervous chuckle and said, "Yeah... that was just a bad dream."

She hesitated for a second, but then she asked, "How have you been this week?"

If he was shocked by the question, he didn't show it as he replied, "Good, except for the constant arguing with the Senju clan. You?"

There was a short pause when she answered, "Good... I like the... freedom... and stuff."

Even in the dark she could see him raise a disbelieving eyebrow at her before he said, "Really? Izuna says you don't look very happy."

She stood up from her seat and crossed her arms, "He's the one that looked completely miserable this week, not me."

Madara chuckled, it was an amused sound. "That's because he's stuck with all of my unfinished paper work while I'm off yelling at Harashima."

"Harashima? That kind looking man who was able to have a normal conversation with me?" she asked, but then snapped her mouth closed. Madara didn't know she had talked to him.

The Uchiha took a threatening stop forward and said, "You talked with Harashima and you didn't tell me?"

She backed up a step. "Well yes, I never had the chance because instead of listening to me you were busy stabbing me with your dagger."

His eyes darkened as he said, "You should have said something anyway."

Kasumi shook her head. "Really? Because when you had the dagger against my throat I was sure that if I said something I would _die_."

Madara frowned and suddenly he was standing in front of her. Before he could say anything she added, "Wait, stop this! Why do you even care who I talk with? _You_ didn't talk to _me_ for a week and all of a sudden you care?"

He grabbed her and she was now pushed up against a wall a few feet away from where they had just been standing. "Of course I care. You are my possession."

She shook her head and said, "No! I'm not your stupid little possession! I am my own person, I don't care about your laws, and I belong to _me_!"

The Uchiha growled and sneered, "You still have not learned your lesson? I had hoped making you immobile for a week would be enough."

Kasumi was going to argue back, but she couldn't because suddenly Madara's demanding lips were on her unprepared ones.

She tried to struggle out of his grip by pushing him away, but he just wouldn't budge. He finally broke the kiss and she looked up at him with confusion filled eyes.

Madara smirked and whispered, "Do you really hate me?"

She tried to connect the kiss to the question, but couldn't so she just answered, "No... I don't hate you."

He instantly stepped away from her and she heard him mutter 'Too bad' before he disappeared.

To be continued...

Haha, finally they kissed! And it only took... 7 chapters! I hope that isn't too fast or too slow... any thoughts?


	8. The Talking Wall

XD Chapter 8! Haha there is progress with Madara and Kasumi... but then Madara left... *Sigh*

Chapter 8- The talking wall.

"That stupid bastard!"

Kasumi glared at the note in front of the garden. Who would have thought such a little thing could cause so much trouble.

'Kasumi, winter is coming so I have decided to redesign the garden before the snow comes. Sighed Madara.'

Now she couldn't go into the garden, which looked hideous because all the flowers had been dug out.

Stupid Madara...

She sighed and walked back inside, there was nothing else she could do out here.

But... what would she do for the rest of the day? Simple, wander the halls until she found something of mild interest.

At first she thought this would be hard, but she found a very amusing looking door after only a few minutes of walking.

She pushed the large, heavy door aside and saw she was standing at the entrance to a library.

It was dusty and Kasumi wondered how long it had been since anyone had been in here.

Shrugging, she strode inside and began pacing between the many shelves of books.

Each shelf had a title so she could tell what types of books were in each one. However, a silver book caught her eyes and she was surprised to see it was in the most unlikely of sections: Law.

She picked it up and her eyes widened when she saw the title 'Mountain Clan Laws'.

Out of curiosity she began looking for her crime, a female becoming a ninja.

It was found pretty easily and she read to see what the punishment was; she didn't want to be surprised when she got back to her clan.

_Thud._

Kasumi dropped the book like it was the bubonic plague and backed away from it in shock.

No... It... It can't be...

She noticed her heart was racing and she tried to calm herself down. Maybe she had read it wrong.

No. It had been perfectly clear.

The punishment for a female becoming a ninja was the death penalty.

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. They were going to kill her.

Instantly, rage swelled up in her and she knew she had to do something about it. For the past week and a half she had just been sitting around, waiting to be taken back.

But that had to change; she had to escape as soon as possible.

She knew she couldn't be too rash about it, but every second her clan was getting closer and closer to her.

There was no time to loose.

Kasumi walked over to the edge of the library, where there was a window, and quietly opened it.

No one was around so she jumped out of the window and began walking along the side of the building, careful to duck under the windows she passed so no one would see her.

Soon she was at the corner of the mansion and standing in front of a huge, solid stone wall. On the other side was the rest of the Uchiha clan base.

Now it was time to put her training back in the forest to good use. She gathered chakra in her hands and feet and began climbing up the wall.

When she was half way up she took a small pause to catch her breath. Just as she was about to continue she heard someone walking toward her and froze when she realized who it was.

"Kasumi, what do you think you're doing?"

Madara.

Trying to act innocent she said, "Oh you know, just doing a few exercises... nothing you need to worry about."

He sighed. "So you finally found out what's going to happen?"

Her eyes widened and she questioned, "Are you talking about what is going to happen to me when I get back to my clan?"

"Yes, I-" he was interrupted.

"You knew and you didn't tell me! How could you? I-" _Thud._ She fell because she lost her concentration on her chakra.

With as much dignity as she could muster, she peeled herself off the ground and stood up.

"Kasumi, I didn't tell you because I knew if I did there would be escape attempt after escape attempt. The less you knew, the less likely you were to do something stupid," he said and crossed his arms.

She looked away as she muttered, "I'm going to die and all you can say is that?"

Before he could say anything else she added, more loudly, "You're not going to let me leave are you? You're going to make me suffer right down to the very end?"

He didn't say anything so she continued, "But you know what the saddest thing about all of this is? Even through all of the stuff you put me through, I still don't hate you."

Madara took a few strides forward and said, "You're right, I'm not going to let you leave, but I'm not going to make you suffer either. Unless you continue to disobey me, because then... I'll make sure you beg for death instead of trying to escape it."

She shuddered, she really didn't want to find out what other torture techniques he had up his sleeves.

"Madara, let me ask you one last question, if I was Ruka, would you let me escape?" she whispered.

He narrowed his eyes. "No, I never let my possessions leave."

"So that's what she was? Ruka was another one of your 'possessions'," she stated.

He seemed to go a bit tense as he replied, "That. Is none of your business. Now come, you will spend the rest of your days in the jail cell."

Kasumi backed away from him. He wouldn't even let her go outside?

Madara began advancing toward her and all reason disappeared from her head; she ran.

If he was going to lock her up in a jail cell she wasn't going down easy. She would fight for every last moment she got outside.

He was much faster than her and she knew it was only a matter of seconds before he caught her. Oh, where was a cliff when you needed it?

Relying completely on instincts, she suddenly stopped, jumped over him and began running in the opposite direction.

She was just buying herself time for her larger plan, which was slightly risky and it needed some time to prepare.

By now he was catching up to her again so she started doing she seals for the Ice Claw Jutsu.

Both her hands became encased in ice in the form of large claws and Kasumi made a sudden turn toward the wall. She used the claws to grab onto the wall and scamper up it.

Madara was still very close to her and when she was at the top she broke into a sprint and jumped off the other side.

It felt like she was flying; like she was finally free.

All of a sudden, she felt Madara's hands wrap around her waist, everything began to spin and she was back in the grey jail cell.

When he let go of her she stumbled forward and fell on the ground in disbelief.

She had been caught.

Just seconds ago she had been flying off the side of a wall.

Quickly, she stood up and turned to Madara, who was about to walk out of the jail cell.

"Wait! Don't go, don't leave me alone. I- I don't want to be alone right now, I don't know what I'll do," Kasumi was surprised when her voice cracked.

But what she had said was a lie, she did know what she was going to do; she was going to sit in the corner and mope about how much she wanted to live.

Madara turned around to look at her. She looked miserable, but determined. "Alright, I'll stay for a bit," he said and the room went silent.

Kasumi didn't trust herself to say anything because for all she knew she would burst into tears or start screaming curses at him.

"They might be lenient and maybe you'll just spend years in prison," Madara tried to comfort her, the pained look on her face was too much.

She narrowed her eyes. "I would rather die than sit in prison."

He raised an eye brow at her and questioned, "Really? You seem to care about living too much to just die."

A small, wry smile crossed her lips as she said, "You're right, maybe I would rather die fighting for my freedom than sit in prison."

Once again, everything was silent until Kasumi said, "Hey Madara, what would you do if you were me?"

He gave her a curious glance, but then answered, "If I was as weak as you I would give up and wait. There is nothing that can be done."

She smirked. "You're lying; you would never just give up."

Turning to look at her, he said, "Don't get any ideas. There is nothing that can be done."

Her eyes widened. He was repeating himself and it meant he might be hiding something. Deciding to take a risk she walked right up to him and said, "I still don't believe you."

He wasn't looking at her anymore; another sign it was a lie. "You know something... there is a way out isn't there? Right, _Madara_," she whispered.

The Uchiha glared down at her as he finally said, "Yes, there is a way, but I will never tell you."

She cocked her head to the side and said, "Even if I do... this?" She put her hands on his chest and began leaning toward his face.

Suddenly, she kicked him and said, "Will you tell me now?" He just glared at her before he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her in for a long, rough kiss.

Suffocating, she tried to push him away, but he was too heavy for her. He broke away, but still didn't let go of her head.

Her eyes were wide and her breathing was short and quick as she tried to say, "M...Madara... what... are you... doing?"

He smirked and said, "I did what you wanted to do." Kasumi scoffed, "That's not what I was trying to do! I was distracting you so I could kick you."

"You kicked me?" he asked and her mouth hung open in shock. Was she really _that _weak!

She shook her head and in a calmer tone asked, "Why do you keep doing that?"

Madara raised an eye brow as he said, "What? Kiss you? You're my possession; I can do whatever I want with you."

Her eye twitched. "Will you just drop that! What makes you think I want to be your possession in the first place?"

"The fact that you didn't try to push me off when I kissed you," was the simple response.

"I did! It's not my fault you can't feel anything you big fat lump of muscle!" she yelled, but even then he did not let go of her.

Madara chuckled. "Oh, so I'm a big fat lump of muscle now? What happened to 'stupid bastard'?"

She gasped, "You heard me back in the garden?" He nodded, "I couldn't _not_ hear it. It was right outside my window."

"Um... Madara... why are you still clutching my head?" she asked quietly when she realized she couldn't turn her head to the side.

"Do I need a reason?" he said and let go. Kasumi backed away a step and said, "Thanks for staying... But is there any chance I will get to go outside until...you know?"

He shook his head and replied, "No. Goodbye Kasumi."

Just like that he was gone and she was alone in the jail cell.

Her mood instantly crashed down as she looked around the dull, grey room. So this was where she would spend her last few days of 'freedom'.

Suddenly, she remembered Madara had said there was a way out. There was no time to loose; she had to find it even if he didn't believe she would.

She walked over to the wall and began trying to find a loose brick or something out of the ordinary.

After she was done pushing three quarters of all the bricks in the room, one of them budged a bit and her eyes lit up.

She found it!

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

_Smash!_

Madara looked up from his desk and frowned when he saw one of his bookshelves fall down on the ground with a horrifying noise.

Dust flew out of the space it had been in and there was a strange black tunnel there too.

Somewhat curious, he walked over to it and walked inside. He had never seen this before and now that he knew it was here he just had to know where it went.

There was a stairwell that led down and at the bottom of it he heard a very strange noise...

"Stupid Madara thought I would never find it, but I did! Just... have... to move... this... stupid... friggin... brick..."

Madara sighed. "Kasumi, is that you?"

He heard her gasp. "Oh dear God! A wall just spoke to me! I must be going insane... eh, it was expected I guess. Hello wall!"

He shook his head, but then decided to play along as the 'talking wall'. "Kasumi, you should know this won't lead to your escape, Madara will get you."

She scoffed and replied, "Geez wall, lighten up, anything can happen! And how do you know about me and Madara anyway?"

"Walls have ears, I hear everything that goes on in this mansion," he said and leaned against the wall.

"Oh, so I guess you know about how much of an ass Madara is?" she asked and he could hear the curiosity in her voice.

His eyes narrowed as he said, "Yes. I know Madara very well." Behind the wall, Kasumi smiled and said, "Yes! Finally someone that agrees with me! You must have heard him call me a possession right?"

"Yes, I heard," he was now glaring through the wall. "It's silly isn't it, people can't be possessions! I wish he would finally get that through his head," she ranted more to herself than him.

Madara stifled a sigh as he said, "Maybe he was right, and he has been taking care of you for the past week and a half. You should be more grateful."

She gasped and yelled, "You're on his side aren't you! You stupid wall, I thought you were going to back me up! I don't like you anymore..."

"Too bad, it's just you and me in here so you're going to have to deal with it," he said, even though he was not the wall he still felt insulted by her words.

All of a sudden she got an idea and she said, "Wait, wall you can hear everything that goes on in the mansion right? Well, can you talk through any wall too?"

"Yes, why?" he asked and she cheerfully remarked, "I was hoping you could find Madara and scare him by telling him you will haunt him forever if he doesn't let me escape."

The Uchiha fell silent and tried not to ridicule her idea as he said, "I don't think he would fal-."

_Crash! _

Dust flew around at an alarming speed after the wall collapsed into a heap of rubble.

Kasumi let out a triumphant cheer and was about to go into the tunnel that was now open, but stopped when she saw Madara standing there.

"You! What... what are you doing here!" she questioned in a panicked haze.

He smirked, stepped over the rubble and said, "I don't need a reason, I'm just a talking wall after all."

She gasped and backed away. She had said a lot of not-so-good things about him to the 'wall': He would want revenge.

"So I'm an ass?" he asked and his smirk widened when she gulped and backed up even more.

The female ninja didn't say anything and just stared at him with wide eyes. He looked in an amused mood, but she knew that could change in an instant.

"You said a lot of... interesting... things just now and it got me thinking, I've been taking care of you for some time now... but you've given me nothing in return," he mused and Kasumi narrowed her eyes.

He continued, "What do you think you could give me, my little possession?"

She glared at him as he walked up to her and whispered, "I want your soul."

Then before she could do anything, he had her hand cuffed and lying on the floor in his office.

Damn, she _really_ hated his teleportation technique.

"Look at all the destruction you caused, now do you understand why a week and a half ago I decided to watch over you _personally_?" he asked, but she didn't reply because she was still too stunned.

Finally she shook her head and took a few seconds to stand up before saying, "So you want my soul huh? How are you going to get it?"

Madara chuckled, "_That_ was a distraction so I could tie you up. It was nothing compared to your pathetic kick distraction."

Scoffing, she replied, "Were back to insults? But anyway, what do I do now?"

He shrugged, "Enjoy you time out of jail and wait."

Kasumi seemed to accept that for a while so she dragged a chair over to the window and stared out of it.

At least she could see the outside world now.

"Madara, you really didn't know there was a secret way out right?" she asked casually.

He was silent for a while before he grudgingly admitted, "I hadn't the slightest clue."

To be continued...

:) A chapter with just Madara and Kasumi, yey! However, I have a small problem... I know what's supposed to happen in a couple of chapters, but I just need something to bridge the two events together... Hmm...

Reviews?


	9. The Forest Reunion

Yessssss! I'm so glad it's already chapter 9! This is going so fast :P

Chapter 9- The forest reunion.

The Uchiha clan leader looked over at the chair in which Kasumi sat. She was asleep and for a second he didn't want to wake her up and tell her the news.

"Kasumi, wake up," he shook her awake and she gave him a small smile. He knew that smile would disappear in a few seconds.

"What is it Madara? You look like you just got into a fight with a scarf that decided to mess your hair up and make your face all broody," she chattered on happily.

Madara didn't break eye contact with her as he said, "Kasumi, your clan came early... they are here."

Her eyes widened and a mixture of disbelief and pain flashed through them before her face went completely blank.

In monotone, she replied, "Thank you for telling me, Madara. Is it time we go?"

He nodded and began leading her out of the room and to the front gate. They were completely silent as they walked; Madara because of lack for what to say and Kasumi because she knew if she said something she would burst into tears.

When they arrived, there was a small group of white haired ninja with a large, round box.

"Uchiha Madara, on behalf of everyone in the clan I say thank you for retaining Kasumi," the tallest ninja spoke.

He glanced at the box and replied, "It was no problem, I trust you will bring her back safely."

All of the ninja nodded and one of them opened the round box. "Climb inside."

Kasumi stepped forward, but before she walked over to the box she whispered, "Madara, thank you for everything, I'm going to miss you."

The small phrase was heard only by Madara and just as he was going to reply she stepped forward and climbed into the box.

It was sealed after her with a lot of rope and many ninja seals.

Then just like that, they were gone without a trace.

Madara stayed in by the gate for a few minutes after they were far away, but at last he whispered, "I'm going to miss you too."

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

Kasumi shifted around in the box quietly. So this is where she was going to spend the next two weeks.

It was like a coffin, she couldn't see outside and it was pitch black. Were they even going to feed her?

Soon enough she started getting drowsy and she closed her eyes to try and take a nap.

However, she couldn't because the lid was suddenly opened and the sneering faces of the ninjas peeked in.

The first one chuckled darkly before saying, "You think you're going back to the clan, don't you bitch?"

She looked at them with confusion evident on her features and another one of the ninja continued, "You're not, you deserve to die for what you did right here, right now."

Her eyes widened and they tilted the box over so she could see they were standing at the edge of a cliff.

By the time she realized what they were going to do, they sealed the box shut again and began rolling over the cliff.

She didn't even have the chance to scream because suddenly she felt she was falling faster and faster.

At first she just went blank, but then she realized that if she didn't do anything she would die.

Trying to concentrate, she did the hand seals for the Ice Claw Jutsu and when it worked she attempted to use the claws to get out of the box.

It wasn't working and she began to panic even more. The Ice Claws deteriorated and she still had no idea what to do.

Suddenly, she got an idea and gathered as much chakra as she could into her hands.

She put her hands against the wall of the box and tried to make the chakra destroy it.

There was a small hissing noise and before she could gasp a small flame formed and began to eat through the box.

Kasumi did her best to move away from the path of the flame and when the hole was big enough she was able to slide out and float in free air.

She was going to look down to see how much time she had to slow herself down, but just as she was going t-

_Smaaasshhh!_

The female ninja could barely register what was going on as she was tumbling on the rocks like a rag doll.

It seemed like an eternity before at last she came to a stop, but by then she couldn't move. Breathing alone hurt like hell.

After a few minutes of catching her breath, Kasumi lifted her head off the ground to look around.

No way...

She was lying in a huge valley with not a single plant around. When she looked up she was she had been thrown off the near top of one of the mountains in the valley.

It was horrifying to think that she had fallen that entire way.

She gathered all of her remaining strength to stand up, but then instantly regretted it.

Her clothing was torn and her skin was littered with bruises and many various sized cuts. The largest one ran down the entire length of her left arm.

Grimacing, she shook her head when she saw the remains of the box lying on a large boulder. If she hadn't climbed out she doubted she would have survived.

Then she thought about what she was going to do now. There wasn't a single tree for miles and she was slowly bleeding out in the middle of a valley.

The only thing she could do was try and make her way down lower in hopes of finding a small patch of trees or a small river.

Yes, that was what she was going to do.

...

Kasumi grit her teeth when the freezing cold water came in contact with her skin.

She was trying to clean out her wounds beside a small river she had found while limping through the rocks.

It had taken her three hours of walking to find this place, but since it was still early morning she had lots of time to keep heading down.

When her wounds were as clean as they were going to get, she decided to follow the river down. Where there was river there was bound to be vegetation.

A few more hours ticked by and she was glad when she realized walking was getting easier and easier. Her limp was almost gone and by now she could see a couple of trees.

By the time she made it to them she was exhausted and it was mid afternoon.

Realizing she was not going to be able to do anymore walking today, she stopped by the tallest tree and decided to make a small shelter there.

The best type of shelter she could make would be a lean-too. She gathered as many large branches as she could find and arranged then in the desired shape.

Then she collected leaves and moss to use as flooring and roofing material.

When she was finally finished she lay down on her moss bed with an exasperated sigh. That took a lot of energy out of her.

Soon it was going to be evening and she still hadn't gotten any food in her system. So the next thing she did was wander around the area in search of edible plants.

She found a couple of blueberry bushes and ate every single berry that was there; ripe or not.

Finally, it was time for her to sleep and after praying no animal would decide to attack her at night, she lie down on the moss and fell asleep.

The next few days passed similar to this one. She got up, cleaned her wounds, walked for a couple of hours, made a small shelter and then ate before going to sleep.

However, on the fifth day of her starvation in the forest she walked right into a trap.

She didn't know, but one second she was walking through the forest and the next she was hanging upside-down in a large net.

It might be good news, if the people who set the trap up were nice she might be lucky, but there was also the chance they were crazy cannibals and she was dead.

Deciding not to take any chances, she used her Ice Claws to rip the net open and continued walking through the forest.

This time she was much more careful, but these people must have been experts because when she went to go around one trap, there was another in its place.

Kasumi had no choice, but to keep sidetracking until she found a way through.

It had been a couple of hours of walking around traps and suddenly she felt like she was being watched.

She looked around the forest carefully in search of anyone or anything, but after finding nothing continued to walk.

"What do we have here?" someone said not too far from her. The voice sounded male.

She tensed up and waited to see what would happen next. This time the same voice spoke closer to her, "You're the one that destroyed my net aren't you?"

Trying to sound confident she said, "Yes, it was me. Now show yourself, I want to see who I'm talking to."

"You don't remember me, Kasu-chan?" the voice said again, but this time it suddenly sounded feminine and Kasumi gasped when she remember only one person called her that.

"Aunty Sumi! Is that really you?" she asked with growing excitement. Aunty Sumi was the only person in her clan that could change the sound of her voice so dramatically.

There was a bit of a rustle and out of the bushes stepped a short, white haired woman that had a smile as big as her heart.

"Kasu-chan! What are you doing here, alone in the forest?" she questioned after giving her relative a big hug.

Kasumi let out a small nervous laugh, "Well... it's a long story, but what are you doing here?"

Sumi fell silent and her face turned more serious as she said, "We should all discuss this together back at camp. Come along now."

She followed, but she grew more and more confused as she saw other villagers from the Mountain clan at a large, make-shift camp on the edge of a field.

When she was seen, the villagers gathered around and still everyone was silent.

Finally Aunt Sumi said, "After you left, the village split in two. There was a huge argument about what should be done and in the end everyone that was on your side was banished."

She shook her head and asked, "My side? Huge argument? I don't understand."

Another one of the villagers spoke up, "The elders insisted you be executed, but all of us opposed it. We wanted the law you broke to be rebuked so all women could be ninja. They didn't agree and we were all banished."

Kasumi looked around in shock, no wonder all the people here were women.

Sumi continued, "Yes, and we decided to live in the forest here while making our way into the more fertile lands. We want to start a new village. One where women are equal with men and anyone can be a ninja."

Everyone around let out a small cheer, including Kasumi.

Then she said, "I'm so glad this is happening! I never thought something like this could even come true, you are amazing."

Aunt Sumi chuckled and then changed the subject by saying, "But now the question comes to you, what are you doing in the forest wearing such tattered rags and so many little injuries?"

She laughed and said, "Funny story really. It all started when I was arrested and bought to the Uchiha clan base."

There was a collective 'Ooh' and she continued, "There I was Madara's little puppet for a week an a half and then I was taken by the Mountain clan ninja. They said they were going to bring me back to the clan, but instead they stuffed me in a box and threw me off the top of a mountain."

A few gasps were heard, but she still continued, "Obviously, I survived and then I wandered about until Aunty Sumi found me and brought me here."

At first all the women were silent, but then they all started asking questions at the same time.

"What do you mean by Madara's puppet?"

"What was the Uchiha base like?"

"Was he as mean as everyone says he is?"

"Did you meet his brother Uchiha Izuna?"

Kasumi was taken back by all the questions, but then she slowly answered, "Uh... well... the base was very beautiful... there was a very beautiful garden there, and yes I met Izuna, he was very nice... though he didn't help me much..."

The women didn't seem happy she didn't answer any questions about Madara so they asked her again.

Sighing, she said, "Madara was like a PMS'ing woman. One moment we were talking and the next we were arguing. Actually scratch that, we were always arguing. He kept insisting I was his possession and that was the subject of most of our arguments. But... he was nice too... um... he..."

She trailed off to try and remember one nice thing he did.

"Oh! He tried to force feed me cereal after he stabbed me and handcuffed me to the bed," she exclaimed and she got a bunch of strange looks.

"That was the nicest thing he did?" one of the women asked and Kasumi added, "Well, there was that one time he tried to comfort me by saying I might spent many years in prison, but those were just words."

_Cricket Cricket Cricket_

"Kasu-chan, Madara stabbed you?" Aunt Sumi asked with a frown.

She nodded and said, "Oh that was nothing too bad. It was just a misunderstanding."

The women collectively shook their heads, but didn't say anything more on the subject.

Finally Sumi said, "Do you know what you're going to do next? You can stay with us if you want."

Kasumi furrowed her brow and wondered how she would answer the question. She hadn't thought of what she was going to do that much.

Maybe she could go back to Konoha... no, Madara would find her and she would probably be imprisoned again.

Still, something didn't seem right about staying in the forest. She wanted to stay and help her village start anew, but a voice in the back of her head told her to go back to Konoha.

She couldn't start a new life until everything was settled with her old one. She had to tell Madara she was alright and alive.

"I want to help you rebuild the village, but I have some unfinished business back in Konoha. Is it possible that I can come back in a couple of days?" Kasumi asked.

Aunt Sumi smiled a sly smile and said, "It has to do with Madara doesn't it? Well it's okay Kasu-chan, you take as much time as you need."

She thanked the women for having her and then she set off into the forest again. She was only half a day's walk away from Konoha and she hoped to get there by nightfall.

...

"Stupid Madara...why the hell did he have to build the Uchiha base on the very _top_ of the hill?"

Kasumi finished walking up the very large hill by the time the first few stars were coming out and she was completely exhausted.

She quickly checked her pocket to make sure the note she had prepared ahead of time was still there. It was and she was able to continue on her journey.

Her goal was to sneak in, leave the note in Madara's office and then leave before he realized she was in the area.

Glancing around, she saw no one was around and she quickly ran into the village. Soon enough she was at the wall separating her from the Uchiha mansion.

Using chakra to hold herself up, she quickly got over the wall and jumped down. She was at the west part of the building and Madara's office was in the north.

The only thing standing in her way was the garden, which she assumed was still under reconstruction.

She tip toed down the side of the building, but then she gasped when she saw the garden.

It was absolutely gorgeous! The flowers were ten times more beautiful than she last remembered them, there was a gazebo in the middle made out of some sort of white stone and there were large, fancy vases standing around.

Kasumi couldn't help but stop and admire the redecoration. This was where she had spent a lot of her time.

Suddenly a shadow caught her eye and she was shocked to see someone in the gazebo.

"Kasumi?"

To be continued!

:P Hehehe, it's a cliffy! Yosh! I think this is one of my favourite chapters to type. The words just seemed to flow out of my head and into the computer. I wish all the chapters were like this lol.

Reviews?


	10. The Final Deal

Haha! Chapter 10! XP I wonder what's going to happen...

Chapter 10- The final deal.

"Kasumi?"

She twitched, she had only been in the base for a few minutes and already she had been spotted.

The voice asked again, but this time more persistent, "Kasumi, is that you?"

Narrowing her eyes she retorted with another question, "Who wants to know?"

There was chuckling before the voice continued, "You're gone for five days and already you don't remember the sound of my voice, _my possession_."

She gasped when she saw Madara walk out of the gazebo and stare at her with a smirk.

Thinking fast, she pulled out the note, threw it at him and she was about to run like hell but he was suddenly standing in front of her, holding the note.

"What's this? Trying to run away _and_ leave a strange note?" the Uchiha questioned, while putting the note in his pocket.

"Um... Madara...I have to go... now... so uh... why don't you just read the note and let me go?" she offered quietly.

He looked like he was considering it for a second, but then he said, "No, but tell me this: What are you doing here, alone?"

Crossing her arms she replied, "Read the note and you'll find out." He took the note out again, but this time he ripped it into shreds and said, "What note?"

She stared at him in shock before muttering, "As if I'm going to tell you now."

"You will, why else would you risk coming here and trying to give it to me?" he reasoned and she sighed when she realized he was right.

"Fine, I will tell you, but answer me this: Why is it that every single time I try to do something you're there? I turn around, you're there. I try to escape, you're there!" Kasumi huffed.

Madara seemed to think about it a bit before he answered, "I just get a feeling you're about to do something stupid and go out to investigate. I've been right every time haven't I? Now tell me why you're here."

She averted her gaze from his and began, "After the Mountain clan ninja took me, they climbed to the very top of a mountain and threw me off."

He looked down at her few still healing bruises that could be seen through her tattered shirt.

Continuing, she said, "Luckily, I survived and after five days of wandering I was reunited with my clan. They were banished by the elders because they tried to stand up for me. We're going to build a new village somewhere and I just wanted to tell you I wasn't dead before I left."

The beautiful garden was silent as Madara tried to comprehend everything that had been said. Finally, he narrowed his eyes and said, "So now you're off to go live in the forest? I will not allow it. You will stay with me until they build everything."

She scoffed, "What? You think I can't handle a few weeks of sleeping in a tent? It's much more comfortable than that stupid rug."

"No, but since half your clan thinks you're dead, that means I officially own you. Plus, you came back willingly," he said smugly.

Glaring, she said, "No you don't! It means I own myself and I only came here with the intention to leave again."

Madara chuckled. "Intentions don't matter; it's what you do that counts."

Tired of arguing, Kasumi muttered, "Whatever, I have to go now." Then she tried to walk around the Uchiha, but he grabbed her arms and wouldn't let go.

Neither of them said anything as they glared at each other. Of course, Madara's piercing glare was too much for her so she looked away and he smirked.

"You knew when you came here you wouldn't be leaving again, but you still came... isn't that right?" he whispered.

She didn't look at him as she replied, "I knew there were risks, but I knew I would find a way to get away."

"Really? How were you planning to escape?" he asked and there was a twinge of sarcasm laced into his voice.

Kasumi looked straight into his eyes and with a smirk she said, "Like this."

Suddenly she exploded in a puff of smoke and then she was gone.

Madara cursed. It had been a clone.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

"Aunty Sumi! I'm back!" Kasumi yelled when she returned to camp.

No one returned her calls and she started getting a little worried. She decided to look around the tents for anyone, but she was shocked to see not a single person was around.

The camp was abandoned.

No, it couldn't be. Maybe the women had all gone hunting together. Or... Or... they had gone searching the forest for some reason... right?

Kasumi tried to calm herself down, but in the end got herself even more worked up.

What if they had been ambushed or attacked? But wouldn't there be signs of a struggle that way?

Not if it was ninja that attacked. They could have swooped in through the night and none of them could have seen it coming.

She sighed, she didn't like where her thoughts were going and she knew she had to stay positive.

A couple of worrisome hours ticked by and still there was not a single soul around.

Finally she decided to stop waiting and to begin looking. The next few hours were spent following any footprints she could find, but a disturbing trend was happening.

Every set of footprints she followed just ended up disappearing in thin air. Even if that person had been walking through the mud, not a single trace was found.

Now she was seriously worried. Something must have happened. But.. What?

Soon enough it was evening and Kasumi sat back in camp, she felt so helpless. She spent the night in Aunt Sumi's tent, but she didn't get much sleep.

In the morning she made up her mind that she would search for any clues that could lead to the location of the women. Surely there had to be something.

Kasumi stepped out of the tent to stretch, but then stopped when her heart skipped several beats.

Her chest hurt as she looked around the camp in horror. There was blood. Everywhere.

But not just splattered around, it was used to write a message.

'Women are not ninja.'

How had she not heard someone sneaking into the camp and doing this? But now she had a clue, only one set of people would do this.

The Mountain Clan.

She frowned and continued to look around the camp. The previous message was written over and over again in almost any space that could be found.

However, in the very middle of the camp was an envelope, which she approached cautiously.

After making sure it was safe to open the message, she gasped when she saw what the letter contained.

'Kasumi, traitor of the Mountain Clan, we have taken all of your precious women hostage back to our village. They are our property, but if you disagree with that... why don't you come save them?'

It was all written in blood and it made her want to drop it right then and there.

She couldn't believe this was happening. But something didn't seem right... the women had said they were banished, but if that was true, why would the men come back and take them?

However, none of that mattered right now. She had to save them, no matter what.

Kasumi paced back and forth around the camp and tried to figure out what she could do. She couldn't go alone because she would be useless, but that meant she needed help from someone else.

But who?

She sighed when she realized the only person she could ask for help would be the one that kept insisting she was his possession.

How ironic, she was going to try and save women from men that thought women were possessions with the help of a man who himself thought she was his property.

Taking a deep breath, she began heading for the Uchiha Clan base. Hopefully she would be able to persuade Madara into helping her.

The only thought that nagged her as she ran was... 'How?'

...

Kasumi walked into the Uchiha Clan base calmly.

It was still early evening and many people were walking around. Some of them gave her strange looks, but she ignored them.

She had a mission and she sure as hell had to complete it.

The gates to the mansion were open and the female ninja was able to simple walk through, instead of having to climb over the wall.

Knowing Madara would be busy right now, she went straight for the garden and sat down in the gazebo.

He would easily be able to sense her chakra and he would come when he was ready.

As she waited she tried to think of what she could offer in return for his help. Maybe she could offer him secret Mountain Clan jutsu scrolls, or money from the town's treasury, but she doubted he would want it.

"You came back again? My, my, you must really like my garden," Madara said from behind her, catching her off guard slightly.

"Yes, I do like your garden, but... Madara... I have to ask you something very important," Kasumi said in a serious tone. She needed to cut to the chase as soon as possible.

The Uchiha gave her a somewhat curious glance and she continued, "I have a problem and I need your help. Remember the women from my clan I was talking about yesterday?"

He nodded. "They were kidnapped by the men of the village...," she trailed off.

"And you want me to help you get them back?" Madara asked in an equally serious tone.

Kasumi looked down and muttered a 'yes' and he continued, "Alright, I will help you, but I need something in return."

Her eyes widened and she looked up at him with hope filled eyes before sobering slightly and saying, "What do you want in return?"

He smirked and walked right up to loom over her before he said, "You."

She gulped and he continued, "I want you to stay here, forever. You will be truly my possession, and I will save the women of your clan."

Her stomach twisted itself into knots as she tried to think clearly. Basically, it was her life in exchange for the safety of the women.

She selfishly wanted to refuse, but she knew she would never forgive herself if she just left everyone she loved in the hand of tyrants.

Kasumi looked Madara straight in the eye and said, "I agree, but you have to promise to protect the women no matter what. The men won't give up after one attack."

The Uchiha nodded and replied, "Yes, I promise."

There was a brief pause before he said, "Now come inside, we will head out tomorrow."

She gave him a confused glance before asking, "Wait, don't you need to inform the other ninja they are heading out tomorrow?"

He shook his head. "No, we are leaving alone."

...

That night Kasumi hadn't slept well.

For one, she still resented the rug she had to sleep on and two; she was wondering if maybe she had made a mistake.

What if she had rejected Madara's offer but instead suggested her own? What if she had asked Izuna? What if Madara was making a mistake by not taking any other ninja with him? What if, what if, what if?

The questions buzzed around her head like immortal mosquitoes. Just when she thought she was sure she had killed one, it came back and haunted her again.

Finally it was morning and time for her and Madara to head out into the forest. They would have just teleported to the Mountain Clan base, but Madara had never been there so he couldn't.

The closest he had been was at the border of Snow Country and that was where they were going.

In silence, they gathered warm clothing, some food supplies and a few other essentials.

Then after Madara let Izuna know he was in change, he took hold of Kasumi and they teleported.

Instantly, everything came to life. Kasumi's dull eyes lit up and she began to chatter on happily.

"Snow! Snow! Madara look, look, there's a giant icicle! I'm gonna go lick it!" she announced and was about to run over to it, but Madara grabbed her arm and told her to calm down.

To some degree she did, but she still acted like a hyped up six year old that was seeing snow for the first time in the life instead of a twenty year old that had grown up in it.

"Kasumi, aren't you going to get tired if you keep running around like that?" he asked, somewhat annoyed that she was showing this much enthusiasm.

She gave him a look that clearly said you're-kidding-right before saying, "You're just jealous that I can run around the snow and have fun while you brood about how sad your life is."

He was going to retort, but she was back to running around in the snow. Good thing they took a lot of warm clothes.

"Madara look! I found shelter!" she suddenly yelled and began running off the road and toward a dark cave.

The Uchiha reluctantly followed her even though he had told her they had enough money with them to stay in an inn or hotel.

The cave was not very large, but that was good because it would take less energy to heat it up. There were many icicles covering the entrance, but Kasumi only removed one to get inside.

They could serve as a partial door to the cave. By the time Madara was by the cave Kasumi had found a place where each of them would sleep, where to start the fire and gathered sufficient firewood.

"I call the rocky ledge!" she announced and spread her packed up sleeping bag on it. "You can sleep in the corner because the fire should be hear the back to keep the heat in," she continued and began starting the fire.

"You want to sleep here?" he questioned with a slight frown. She nodded and gave him a bright smile before she said, "Yes! It's like camping out in the forest and it might help you loosen up. You've been all calm and serious this entire time."

He shook his head, but didn't argue. He doubted he would be able to drag her out of the cave without causing a huge scene.

Kasumi finished making the fire and then she set out on finding something to cook. Looks like she didn't want to use the food they had taken along with them.

Half an hour later she came back with a bag full of edible plants and sautéed a quick salad out of them.

They ate in silence, but the second Madara put down his plate she said, "You know what we should do?" He resisted the urge to sigh.

"We should have a snowball fight! Maybe then you'll finally crack a smile," she cheered and he wanted to mutter 'or I'll crack your ribs'.

She was able to drag him out of the cave and after they agreed to use no chakra in the game it began.

Kasumi had the advantage because she had been living in snowy terrain for most of her life, but Madara seemed to be struggling with the idea that if you crush the snowball too much, it will break.

Just as he was going to throw a snowball it turned to powder and she was able to use the opening to throw a whole barrage of them.

At least he stood out less now that he was covered in fluffy white stuff.

Finally Kasumi realized he wasn't having any fun and reluctantly called the game was over. Then Madara went back to his spot in the cave while she tried to figure out what she could do to cheer him up.

Any games were out of the option, but perhaps she should have seen that one coming. Suddenly, she got an idea and with a large smirk on her face, she made it back into the cave.

"So... Madara... I think I know what might cheer you up in this wonderful snowy paradise! Taking a nap! You just go to sleep while I go have fun exploring the area."

For a split second he looked like he was actually considering it, but then he said, "No, I don't need a _nap_ I need you to calm down and be quiet. You've been like a wound up doll running around non stop, you should start acting your age."

Her smirk disappeared and a fake smile replaced it. "Of course I have been, this... this is probably the last time I'll be here... and I have to... I have to take in everything I can."

She was surprised when her voice cracked, but her fake smile remained persistent.

Madara stared at her with narrowed eyes when he realized what she meant. "You think I'm going to keep you in the Uchiha base forever?"

Averting her gaze, she nodded and he sighed. Of course she thought so; he never bothered to explain the details.

He stood up and when he was standing right in front of her he said, "Kasumi, look at me." Slowly and hesitantly, she looked up at him and he could see the masked pain in her eyes.

She truly thought he was never going to let her visit her homeland ever again.

"Kasumi, this isn't the last time you'll be here. I'll let you come here when you want; just because you are mine doesn't mean you're my prisoner."

Confusion crossed over her face and he continued, "Being mine means you stay with me and no one else. It means I am the most important person in your life. It means, we are together as long as we live."

He put his hand on her chin and pulled her up for a long, passionate kiss.

_Together as long as we live._

To be continued...

Any thoughts?


	11. The Dead Crow

:) Chapter eleven! These past few chapters have included a few plot twists and I hope its not too confusing so far... or too _not_ confusing for that matter. I gotta find that golden centre!

Chapter 11- The dead crow.

"Good morning Madara! Lookie what I made for breakfast!"

Looks like Kasumi was just as excited as she had been the day before.

Madara tried to look comfortable as Kasumi gave him a plate of breakfast, but in truth he was as uncomfortable as a cat in water.

The cold had crept into his bones during the night and he still felt frozen half to death.

Well, that was before he looked down at his breakfast because the second he saw it, he twitched and the previous cold was completely forgotten.

"Kasumi, what is this?" he asked, he was trying to stay calm, but some annoyance leaked through his tone.

"Well... let's just call it... half bunny half something strange and slimy I found and decided to cook," she chattered as she began to dig into her meal.

Madara watched her for a couple of seconds to see if perhaps she would suddenly die of poisoning, but when she exclaimed it was delicious he reluctantly took a couple of bites.

It was... unique...

The Uchiha looked at Kasumi and wondered how on earth she could be eating _this_. It tasted like well, half bunny, but then half slimy dog shit.

"You like it?" she asked with a hopeful smile and he glanced down at the food before saying, "It is very special."

She seemed to accept that and when she turned away, he dumped 'it' into a crack in the cave wall.

Then he got up and made his way out of the cave.

"..."

"Madara? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Is _this_ the slimy thing you found?"

"Why yes actually, how perceptive of you!"

"Kasumi, this is a dead crow."

"...and?"

"..."

Madara shook his head and in a more serious tone he said, "By this evening we should make it to the Mountain Clan base."

Kasumi burst out laughing. "Are you serious? Ha, you must be bad at reading maps! It'll take us two days to reach the base, we have to go around a huge mountain, we can't go straight."

He narrowed his eyes, but didn't argue because he knew it would be pointless.

"Then we head out right now, get your things," he ordered and Kasumi quickly got her things together before coming to stand beside him.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask you how you slept. I slept great! It was the best sleep I've had in weeks!" she said and his eye twitched.

"How I slept is none of your business, just walk," he seethed quietly.

"That bad huh?"

...

"Oh my gosh, look Madara, I can't see my hand!"

Madara scowled at how Kasumi could still be cheerful even though they were stuck in a full out snow storm.

"Are you looking? Because I can't see your hand either... or your face... or you... Madara... are you there?"

He contemplated not saying anything and watching her freak out, but he just sighed and said, "I'm right beside you Kasumi."

She gasped and for some odd reason began trying to reach for him.

"No you're not! I don't see anyone or anything."

He sighed again. "Other side."

Chuckling, she poked him and said, "Just kidding. I saw you, but I was kinda hoping you wouldn't be able to see me. You and your stupid Sharingan."

He smirked; even here the Sharingan was an advantage.

They continued to trudge through the forest for a couple more hours, but finally the Uchiha said, "We will look for shelter now, this weather is too much."

She looked like she was going to argue, but she just nodded and stayed quiet.

About another hour passed by before they found a small cottage. They somewhat hesitantly approached it, but found there was no need to when they realized the cottage was empty.

Madara broke the door and they were pleasantly surprised to find that the cottage had one large bed, a fireplace, a table and a few chairs in it.

Kasumi instantly began working on starting a fire, but in doing so found signs that the cottage hadn't been used for a while now.

There was dust everywhere and everything looked completely untouched.

This was good news; they wouldn't have to deal with any confrontations.

Food was prepared and eaten quickly before the silence was broken by Kasumi, "Well, there's no rug here so... I guess I'll sleep on the chairs."

He shook his head. "No, the bed is large and I'm sure we can both fit."

Scoffing, she replied, "Thanks, but no thanks. For all I know you'll smack me in the face with your elbow in the middle of the night."

Madara looked somewhat offended as he said, "Why would I do that? As an Uchiha I am perfect."

A crooked grin formed on her lips, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she lined up the chairs, spread her sleeping bag on them and sat down with her arms crossed.

"If you insist you can sleep on those uncomfortable chairs, but don't come complaining to me when you fall off and break your neck," he muttered.

With that said, they went to sleep and not another word was said until somewhere around midnight a loud _thud_ was heard.

"Oohh... owww... what... what happened?" the dazed Kasumi mumbled as she looked around.

She was on the floor.

Madara looked down at her and said, "I told you so."

Narrowing her eyes she was able to retort, "Thanks for the helpful commentary. You arrogant ass head."

He smirked and taunted, "Oh, and here I was going to let you sleep in my bed, but now you can forget that."

"As if I wanted to sleep in your bed. I am perfectly comfortable on the chairs," she said and went to lie down again.

_Thud._

"Uh... I hate these chairs."

He watched with mild amusement as Kasumi peeled herself off the floor, grabbed the sleeping bag off the chairs, put it on the ground and went to lie down.

"There, now I can't fall anymore!" she announced as she lied down.

Madara still didn't seem pleased with her idea so he warned, "You're going to get cold and tomorrow you're going to feel like hell."

She gave him a smug smile and before she closed her eyes she said, "That's alright, I'm still never going to lie in your bed."

With that, silence once again fell around the cottage and all seemed to be going well for Kasumi until exactly one hour later...

_Ah- Ah- Ah-CHOOO_

"Don't say it," she warned when Madara looked down at her smugly. "I told you so," he said anyway.

Then in a more serious tone he said, "Kasumi, will you just admit you're cold and lie down in the bed? Because if this continues, we won't be able to get any sleep."

She seemed to be contemplating it, but then she defiantly stated, "No, I may sneeze and get sick, but I absolutely refuse to do as you say."

He smirked and said, "Really? Are you sure about that?" She was about to say yes, but suddenly he was on top of her and she felt herself being pulled up onto the bed.

Then, as she realized what was going on, Madara flipped her onto her back and she was now pinned to the bed.

"Now sleep," he commanded and Kasumi huffed, "Like hell I'm going to sleep. The second you let go of me I will be back on the floor."

He narrowed his eyes and said, "Then I'm not going to let go of you and-" "-and you're not going to get any sleep at all," she interrupted.

They glared at each other until he smirked and caused her to shiver. Then Madara lied down on his stomach beside her, but he kept his right arm over her stomach, thus keeping her trapped.

"I am going to get all the sleep I need," he said as Kasumi grumbled random swear words at him.

She tried to get his arm off her, but it seemed to weigh a hundred pounds. Then she tried rolling out of his grasp, but that proved impossible as well.

Finally, as a last resort she started to talk. To herself.

"Why hello there Kasumi"

"Hello Kasumi"

"How are you doing this fine middle of the night?"

"Horrible! A large black haired thing is lying beside me and I can't sleep"

"Have you tried talking to yourself to maybe make him so tired he will force you off the bed?"

"That's a great idea! I'll start right away"

"Hello Kasumi"

"Hello to you too Kasumi"

"How are you?"

"Great, I hope this plan works"

"Yes I agre-"

"Would you stop talking and go to sleep?" Madara grumbled suddenly.

"Oh, Madara! You eavesdropper, this conversation has nothing to do with you."

"Yes Kasumi, you tell him! He has no right listening in on our talk."

The Uchiha suppressed a sigh as he said, "Kasumi, sleep. Now."

She giggled, but tried to sound offended as she said, "But I can't send myself away, we were having such a nice conversation. Plus, I can't sleep knowing your arm is on my stomach."

"Deal with it, if you say another word, I will have to silence you by force," he threatened and she guessed he wasn't kidding, but just as one last jab she said, "Word."

Faster than she could blink he was suddenly pinning her down to the bed again and he growled, "Sleep. Now."

Knowing she was probably digging her own grave she said, "Aww, you're right. I forgot that every Uchiha needs their beauty sleep."

He chuckled, but it sounded more cruel than happy as he activated his Sharingan and looked Kasumi straight in the eye.

She didn't have a chance to blink and suddenly the world around her melted away into a large grey room.

They were back in the Uchiha Clan base, in that prison cell.

"Since you refuse to sleep, perhaps I should _help_ you," the room echoed and she gulped. She was in deep, deep trouble now.

"Uh... No... It's okay... I... uh... can sleep just fine... no need for you to help me..." she stuttered.

Another chuckle. "Oh, I insist."

All of a sudden, the walls around her grew huge spikes and began slowly closing in. Madara's deep voice could be heard saying, "If you can fall asleep right now, the walls will stop moving and I will let you go."

Confused and terrified, she yelled, "What? No, I can't sleep here! The walls are going to close in on me and I'm going to be dead!"

She got no response so she began pacing around the shrinking room and trying to think of a way to stop the walls.

Luckily, she got an idea and she got a tiny bit of chakra in her fingertips. Then she put her hands on the side of her head and used the chakra to knock herself out.

Her body fell to the ground with a thud and instantly she was back in the world of the living.

Madara glared down at her and said, "You're getting better at this, but I guess that means I will have to force you to sleep in the real world."

"You know you could just let go of me and I would probably instantly fall asleep," she offered with a half shrug.

He narrowed his eyes and rebuked the idea, "No, you have to learn to be able to sleep in the same bed as me."

"I will, just let go of me," she insisted. Finally, he sighed and said, "I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice."

He picked her up, got off the bed, walked to the door, opened it and then unceremoniously dumped her out in the snow before promptly slamming the door in her face.

From behind the door she heard him say, "Stay out there until you decided to wizen up."

She stared in shock at the door for a few minutes, until she realized he wasn't kidding. At least she was still wearing her travelling clothes.

Even though there was a fire place in the cottage, it was still too cold to change into actual sleeping gear.

Sighing, she found a large tree, climbed up into it and fell asleep in the branches. She was going to be so sick by tomorrow.

...

Madara rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. It was morning.

He leisurely got dressed and ate breakfast; he wanted to be at least somewhat satisfied when he went to go deal with Kasumi.

The Uchiha squared his shoulders and prepared to see Kasumi lying at the front porch, half frozen.

He opened the door and he was assaulted by the smell of burning dead crow. There was barely enough time for him to dodge as she chucked the disgusting thing at him. It landed right in front of him though.

Narrowing his eyes he was about to yell at her for doing something like that when suddenly it blew up.

Now, Uchiha Madara was always on guard for his safety, but he in no way would have ever expected that.

Kasumi climbed down from the tree she had been sleeping in with a large grin on her face. Somehow she had managed to find another dead crow, set it on fire and wire it up with explosives.

"So Madara, how did you sleep last night? I slept great, plus I was able to have a nice breakfast of frozen fish I found in a nearby river," she chattered on as if she had not just tried to blow him up.

Rage was painted on his face as he attempted to wipe the remains of the crow off himself. She gave him another brilliant smile before saying, "Well, you're going to try and kill me now right?"

A dark glare confirmed it and she continued, "Okay, then I guess I'll see you in the village, bye, bye!"

Then she disappeared into a puff of smoke. It had been a clone.

Had he not been an Uchiha he would have started screaming curse words at Kasumi right then and there, but no, he was an Uchiha and he had to act like it.

He quickly gathered his things, activated the Sharingan and began looking for any trace left behind by her.

There was almost nothing, but the tiniest imprints on the snow could be seen. He smirked and began to follow the trail.

He would catch up to her in no time and then there would be hell to pay.

...

Kasumi ran through the forest like a jack rabbit that got its little paws on some crystal meth before ingesting the whole bag along with a mega ton of candy.

Needless to say, she wanted to get away from Madara, fast.

As she continued to run toward her village she realized that perhaps she had not thought everything through.

For one, if she just ran into the village she would be caught and killed. Two, if she stayed out of the village Madara would get her and probably strange her to death. Three, if she managed to sneak into the village unnoticed, Madara would still run in there, kill her and then kill everyone else.

This... this was just not going according to plan.

Sighing, she realized the most sensible thing to do was stop, apologize to Madara and then get on with the plan.

However, Kasumi was not the most sensible person around and she preferred to do things 'specially'.

Thus, she decided to sneak into the village and somehow get Madara to direct his anger for her onto the men of the village.

About an hour or so of non-stop running later, she could see the village. It was just as beautiful as she last remembered it, but now it was abandoned looking.

She closed her eyes and tried to sense any chakra's around. Not very far in the distance she felt Madara's chakra and in the town's meeting hall she felt the presences of all the women and all of the men.

For some odd reason they were all gathered together and there wasn't even one look out.

Taking a deep breath, she began making her way down to the village. She took the long way around, but soon enough she was at the back to the meeting hall.

Kasumi doubted that her chakra would be felt because by now Madara's angry one was much more prominent.

She skilfully made a tiny hole in the side of the building and looked inside.

A gasp nearly escaped her lips when she saw all the women tied up and hanging from the ceiling like piñatas.

Their feet could barely touch the ground and they all looked very uncomfortable.

Finally, she heard one of the men say, "There is a huge chakra coming this way! I want all of the men to get their weapons. We head out now, and surround the village. We don't want this person to get inside."

She carefully climbed up the side of the all and onto the roof so no one would see her. She had already made it this far and she didn't want to be caught.

Her breathing was slow and even as she watched men run out of the building and spread out. Not a single person was left to guard the door.

When she was sure no one could see her, she jumped down to the ground and opened the door.

She was met by many pairs of frightened eyes, which turned into cheerful ones when they realized who she was.

Signalling for them to be quiet, Kasumi found something sharp and began cutting away the rope that tied them all.

Soon enough, they were all free and very happy to see her. They silently nodded at each other and Kasumi whispered, "I brought help, he can save all of us."

Aunt Sumi whispered back, "Is it that Madara gentleman?"

She didn't get a chance to respond because from behind someone said, "Yes it is me, isn't that right Kasumi?"

To be continued...

XD They finally made it to the village! Reviews?


	12. The Beginning's End

Dead crows are really such a bother... I guess that's why Kasumi likes throwing them at Madara :)

Chapter 12- The beginning's end.

Kasumi whispered, "I brought help, he can save all of us."

Aunt Sumi whispered back, "Is it that Madara gentleman?"

She didn't get a chance to respond because from behind someone said, "Yes it is me, isn't that right Kasumi?"

Turning around to stare at him, she gulped and said, "Why yes, Madara, that's right."

"But perhaps I changed my mind... the whole dead crow fiasco was a little too much," he sneered as he walked up to her and glared.

"Speaking of which, there's a piece of the foot stuck in your overly pampered fluffy ass hair," she challenged and his glare intensified.

He swiftly removed the rotting appendage and said, "I could just leave you here, cancel our deal and not help you at all."

Kasumi didn't seem threatened and she replied, "No you wouldn't do that because I know you wouldn't have walked all this way, just to give up. Unless... you're actually so pathetic you are making excuses to back out?"

Madara was about to sneer some sort of insult, but Aunt Sumi said, "Madara-sama, please forgive my niece, she never was the most polite child. We would be honoured if you would help us, please do help us."

His anger actually seemed to ebb away and he somewhat reluctantly agreed to go out for battle.

Just as he was about to leave, Kasumi grabbed his hand and said, "Wait! Don't kill them, just uh... immobilize them."

He nodded, but then she whispered, "And... be careful, I don't want you to get hurt."

Nodding again, he whispered back, "You know I'll be fine and you also know you're going to pay for the crow thing."

She paled slightly and then he was gone. When she turned back to face the women she was met by many cat-like grins.

"So _that's_ Madara," Aunt Sumi said with a knowing smirk on her face. Kasumi raised an eyebrow at their expressions and said, "Why are you guys looking at me like that? It's kinda creepy..."

Their grins only widened and one of the women said, "You and Madara looked like a cute bickering couple."

She shook her heard and corrected, "You got the bickering part right, but that's it. We aren't a couple, just uh... two people that don't get along and constantly piss each other off."

None of them seemed to believe her and another one of the women said, "I just don't understand one thing, why did Madara-sama have a piece of... dead crow on him?"

Kasumi chuckled and after remembering the look on his face when it blew up on him she said, "He kicked me out of the little cottage we were staying in, so I found a dead crow, set it on fire, wired it up with explosives and threw it at Madara."

There was a long, collective silence.

"Wait a second, he kicked you out at night, or during the day?" yet another one of the women asked.

She nodded and replied, "The middle of the night, all because I refused to sleep in the same bed as him."

Instantly, Kasumi regretted mentioning anything about a bed when she saw all the women laughing in small perverted huffs.

"He wanted you to sleep in his bed?"

"And you said no?"

"What were you thinking!"

"You should have said yes!"

"Maybe he wouldn't be in such a bad mood, neither of you would be."

"Ladies! Ladies! Can't you see Kasu-chan is confused, stop with the questions," Aunt Sumi ordered when she saw her niece going googly eyed.

Once again there was silence and the poor female ninja was able to explain the full situation. When she was done the women no longer looked like strange perverted men about to have a major nosebleed.

"So uh... now that this is all resolved... I have some questions for you," Kasumi said with an exhausted sigh.

"First, why did the men want to get you back after you said you had been banished?"

One of the older women stepped forward to answer her question, "We were not banished... we chose to run away in hopes of being free, but we didn't know the men wanted us here this bad."

Kasumi nodded and asked her second question, "Are any of you injured or hurt? Back in your camp there was a lot of blood and I was worried they might have hurt you."

All the women shook their head and Aunt Sumi said, "They only took a little bit of blood from each of us, so we're fine."

Once again all was silent until someone threw the door to the town hall open. Everyone tensed up when they saw a large white thing saunter in.

"Stop right there! What are you?" Kasumi demanded and held a makeshift weapon in her hand.

The thing stopped and suddenly began to shake for all it was worth.

It looked like half a ton of snow fell away and in the middle was...

"Madara?"

"Do. Not. Say. A. Word."

"Are you kidding? You looked like a giant freaky snowball that some dog decided to pee on before throwing off a cliff," Kasumi mindlessly chattered, but stopped when she saw one long, red gash on his arm.

She rushed over to him, grabbed his arm and said, "What's this? You said you were going to be fine!"

Madara looked down at her and he knew behind the accusing tone was a tiny hint of worry.

"It's fine, it is nothing to be worried about. One of them caught me off guard, that's all," he said with as much dignity as he could muster.

Kasumi looked a little calmer as she asked, "But... that was fast wasn't it? Are you done or did you come to hide here?"

Scoffing, he replied, "I. Do not hide. I finished with them; they were much weaker than you described them to be."

She shrugged and retorted, "At least you didn't underestimate them, sir snowball pee face."

Had they been alone, he would have probably pinned her to the wall and started sneering at her, but no, they had company.

Speaking of which...

"Madara-sama, we thank you for helping us, but perhaps you should get that wound cleaned up," Aunt Sumi spoke up. She seemed to be acting as the representative of the group.

He ignored her advice and said, "It was of no consequence, but now we have to go."

The women exchanged confused glances and one of them said, "We? Isn't Kasumi staying with us?"

He looked down at Kasumi and nodded. It was her job to break the news to her clan.

"I'm sorry, but I am not staying with you. I... I made a deal with Madara. I would stay with him in exchange for him saving all of you," she said solemnly and everyone started to look worried.

Aunt Sumi looked to most worried as she said, "Kasu-chan! You gave yourself up for us? Why... you didn't have to do that."

Her eyes filled with determination and she responded, "I did. You are my clan and I had to get someone to save you. It's too late to argue now anyway, I am glad you are all safe. I'm going to miss you...Goodbye."

With that she turned around and walked out of the town hall, Madara close behind her.

The women yelled their 'goodbye's' and the couple walked out of the village. When they were deep in the forest, Kasumi's shoulders dropped and her previous determination disintegrated to dust.

Madara had told her she would be able to visit, but there was still that one tiny little twinge of regret deep in her soul.

Try as she might, she couldn't convince it to become something else, _anything_ else.

She stiffened when she felt Madara's hand wind around her waist. "Kasumi, did you forget you have to pay for throwing that dead thing at me?"

Gulping, her previous thoughts disappeared and she said, "Oh... that... uh... it was a joke you know, you don't have to take it so... uhh... seriously..."

He just smirked and pulled her closer before whispering, "I shouldn't have kicked you out that night, what I should have done... well, you'll see tonight."

Her mind did not like the sound of that and she had to spend the rest of the day trying to figure out what he would do and how she would thwart it.

If he was going to tie her to the bed, she had to constantly keep her eye on him. If he was going to gag her and then pin her to the bed she had to keep an eye on him. If he was going to kick her out, tied up, she had to keep her eye on him.

Bottom line, Kasumi _had_ to have Madara in her sights all the time.

They decided to spend the night in the cottage because it was much better than having to find a whole new shelter.

By the time they got there, it was late evening and they desperately needed to sleep and change Madara's bandages.

Along the way she had managed to convince him to take care of it, instead of letting it 'do its own thing'.

When they were standing at the door to the cottage, Kasumi said, "Men that look like tough ladies first."

He glared at her, but walked in. However, the second she stepped inside, he grabbed her, pinned her to the wall and threatened, "You _will_ sleep in the bed tonight, I'm going to be sure of it."

She smiled and said, "Are you sure you're going to be 'sure of it'? Because well... how are you going to get me in the bed if I'm not even in the cottage?"

His eyes narrowed and just as he was going to command her to explain she blew up in a puff of smoke.

When had she...?

"Damn it, another clone," he muttered and walked outside to look for her. Truthfully, it wasn't a challenge to find her.

She was standing beside the tree she had slept in the night before with a large smirk on her face.

"Madara, I absolutely refuse to go inside that cottage, thus I will stay outside and camp. You have fun in there, _alone_," she stated and got in a defensive stance.

She highly doubted he would agree with her and she guessed he would probably try to drag her in by force.

"Alright, you can stay out here and _camp_, but if I see or smell _one_ dead crow, you are dead," he warned and with that he slammed the door shut.

Kasumi stared at the door in awe, did that... did that just happen?

No, it had to be some sort of trap! She looked around for any signs he was still around and waiting for her to relax

She found none and had to begrudgingly admit Madara was actually being nice and letting her get what she wanted.

Shrugging, she found a tiny bit of greenery to munch on, made a decent shelter out of tree branches and quickly went to sleep.

Hopefully nothing would come and attack her in the middle of the night. Like perhaps the relatives of those two dead crows...

About three hours later, the female ninja's eyes flew open and she was met by the smirking face of Madara.

So he had come for her after all! She was about to get out of her shelter and prepare to run like hell, but she gasped when she found herself tied to the bed.

"Now, sleep," he ordered and lied down beside her. Clearly upset, Kasumi yelled, "You... you tricked me! When did you even get me in here?"

He motioned for her to be quiet and said, "About an hour ago, you slept like a baby as I tied heaved you over my shoulder and tied you to the bed. I was so sure you were going to wake up when I accidentally hit your head on the side of the door."

Her mouth hung open for a few seconds before she said, "An hour ago? Hit my head? I still didn't wake up?"

The Uchiha clan leader nodded and once again ordered, "Sleep. Now. But no talking or I will have to gag you."

She listened to him for a while and stayed quiet, but all the while she had an ulterior motive.

Her plan was to wait until Madara fell asleep and then scream as loud as she could. She couldn't want to see the look on his face.

Soon enough his breathing became steady and quiet and Kasumi smirked. Then she took a deep breath and...

"Trying to scream and wake me up?" a voice whispered into her ear and much to her dismay it as the fully awake form of Madara.

"But... but you... sleep and... how did you know?" she questioned with a mixture of awe and disappointment.

He smirked and said, "That doesn't matter, what matters is that you were going to scream. Looks like I have to gag you now."

Her eyes widened and she protested, "No! I didn't actually scre-"

She was cut short when she felt Madara's warm, urgent lips on hers.

At first she tried to push him off, but in the end she gave up and gingerly began kissing back. He seemed to like that because he grabbed the back of her head to force her into an even deeper kiss.

Ironically, Madara, who didn't often exercise his lung power, had an even larger lung capacity than Kasumi, who did indeed constantly exercised it.

She ran out of air and she was slowly suffocating, while still trying to get him off herself.

Finally he got the hint and broke the kiss. The female ninja took a deep breath before staring with wide eyes at the rather pleased looking form of Madara.

"What... what was that for?" she whispered with a blush evident on her face. "That was your gag, but since you're still talking I guess it didn't work," he replied with a devilish grin and kissed her again.

She was still very confused why the man was kissing her, but she guessed it had to do with the fact that he had multiple personalities.

When he broke off the kiss she remained quiet in fear of yet another mind blowing, suffocating, but yet somehow very nice kiss.

"There, now stay quiet and sleep or I will have to gag you again," he half threatened and let go of her to lie down again.

She still stayed quiet, but when she thought about trying to go on with her previous plan she realized it would be futile. If only ninja weren't able to hide it when they slept and when they were awake.

However, she had to do something. No matter what kind of situation she was in she had to show Madara he was not in complete charge.

First, she needed to get out of the ropes that were tying her to the bed. But... how?

Maybe she could somehow wiggle out of them? No, they were too tight.

What if she bit her way out with her teeth? No, that would just be silly.

Suddenly a light bulb went off in her head and she realized she could use chakra to break out of the ropes.

Concentrating, she gathered some chakra into her hands and feet and slowly, ever so slowly, began to twist.

After a few perilous moments the first rope broke, then the second and finally the last two.

She knew she would have no way of telling whether Madara was asleep or not, but she also knew she would have to risk it.

As quietly as she could manage, Kasumi slipped out from the bed and began heading toward the door.

She hesitantly opened the door, but suddenly the door was slammed and she heard someone say, "Where do you think you're going?"

To be continued...

Any thoughts?


	13. The Unusual Punishment

Hm... I think that in a couple of chapters this story will be over... not sure thought. I might decide to add a plot twist... *Shrugs* We'll see :D

Chapter 13- The unusual punishment.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kasumi froze, and gulped when she saw Madara standing in front of her.

Why did this always happen? Whenever she tried to do something he was there! She had never known Karma hated her so much.

Knowing that anything she said would only make the situation worse, Kasumi ran over to the open window and jumped out into the snow.

Madara was not far behind her because just as she was getting up he flew out of the window and on top of her.

Still in escape mode, she wrestled out of his grip and started running into the forest.

As she was doing this an interesting thought came into her head. Why, oh why, was she trying to escape in the first place?

Oh right, it was so show that Madara was not in complete charge and she was not going to submit to his will like a little, clueless deranged puppy.

Suddenly, her arm was grabbed roughly and she fell to the ground from the force.

Not good.

She was going to try and get up again, but she didn't have to because Madara did it for her.

Then he pinned her to a tree and sneered, "I will not repeat myself."

At first she stared at him blankly and wondered what he was talking about, but then she remembered his previous question.

"Oh... I was going for a little morning run," she offered sheepishly in hopes that he would accept it.

He narrowed his eyes at her and said, "It isn't morning yet, now answer me, why did you run?"

She looked him straight in the eyes and said, "I ran because I have something to prove. You are not in complete control of me. You might own me, but I am still my own person and I wanted to prove that to you."

"You still think you have the freedom to make your own choices?" he asked and she didn't know if she was meant to answer that or it was rhetorical.

His eyes narrowed even further and he continued, "You do not. I am in control of you, you will do as I say and not question my authority."

"Like a puppet? Why Madara, I had no idea you liked puppets so much... it's strange really. I thought you were more into Barbie dolls," she managed to retort and she knew she would regret it in the future.

A small smirk formed on his sharp lips as he replied, "A lot of snide comments are coming from your mouth, perhaps I should make sure that stops."

Kasumi gave him a confused look, but she wasn't confused for long because he said, "Next time you say a comment like that one, I will punish you."

Pushing her luck she asked, "What punishment would that be?"

The previous smirk turned sadistic as he said, "I am the Uchiha clan's most skilled torture expert, I think you can see where this is going."

She gulped; she would have to watch her tongue from now on. But then where would her wonderful comments go?

Would they all store up in her brain until one day she exploded and began screaming random half formed insults at him?

She hoped not. It would probably cost Kasumi her life, but then again, with Madara anything was possible.

Maybe he would spare her and only cut off a couple of limbs. Sighing, she realized the irony in her thoughts.

Just a few weeks ago she was able to say anything she could back in her clan; it was her strategy to ward off any 'interested' men, but now if she said one little comment her well being was at stake.

"Do you agree?" Madara asked and broke her out of her thoughts. She looked away and mumbled, "Do I have a choice?"

He seemed to accept that and he let go of her. "Now, let's go back to the cottage. We need to get a lot of rest because we have a lot of walking to do tomorrow."

Her confusion was back as she asked, "Wait, why do we need to rest when we can just teleport back to the base without having to walk at all?"

The Uchiha stiffened as he replied, "I can't. We will have to walk all the way back."

Since he wasn't looking at her, he wasn't able to see the large, somewhat insane looking grin that formed on her face.

That meant she had about two more weeks until she was back in the Uchiha clan base. However, that also meant it was just her and Madara for that amount of time.

It took her a lot of effort not to break out in curse right then and there. Then she remembered the conversation and asked, "Why can't you teleport?"

He seemed to tense up even more as he said, "For the next week, Harashima Senju will be staying at the base."

She was able to connect the dots from there and she tried to look innocent as she questioned, "So you're hiding from Harashima?"

Madara turned to face her again and grumbled, "I. Do not hide."

Kasumi couldn't stop herself as she yelled, "You do repeat yourself! You said the exact same line earlier today you... you... repeater!"

He watched with mild amusement as she slapped a hand over her mouth and started at him with wide eyes.

"It was a grand total of a minute before your first little comment. Are you ready for your punishment?" he whispered and she could hear the half murderous intent in his words.

Her instincts were screaming at her to run as fast as humanly possible, but Madara's piercing stare kept her rooted in place.

He walked right up to her and for a second she stopped breathing. Then she closed her eyes and dared to say, "Just get this over with, I do not regret anything."

"Really? Well maybe after this you will," his voice became deeper and it sent a shiver down her spine.

She tried to look as confident as she could manage, but the overly conscious butterflies in her stomach were not helping.

There was a small metallic clicking noise and she tensed up in case it was a weapon that was about to stab her.

"Kasumi, is that you?"

...What...?

She slowly opened her eyes when she heard the foreign voice, but then she gasped when she saw she was standing in a large room, in which was none other than Harashima Senju.

"Uh..." she answered smartly and tried to figure out what she was doing here.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with a hint of curiosity in his even tone. She shrugged and replied, "You tell me, I wasn't here a second ago."

Then something rustled in her hand and she was surprised to see it was a note.

On the back it read 'To Harashima Senju. From Uchiha Madara.' Confused, she gave the note to the Senju clan leader and he read it quickly.

"What does it say?" she asked and cursed her stupidity that she hadn't read it herself first.

Harashima looked at her before he said, "It says that Madara wants you to stay here and be my personal servant until it is time for me to go back."

Her mouth gaped open for a few seconds, until she closed it and with a large grin on her face she said, "I am so lucky! A week without being around that crap head! Yes! I can't believe he calls this punishment."

Then she burst into a little fit of giggles and Harashima gave her a somewhat cautious stare as he asked, "Punishment? What is he punishing you for?"

"Oh, nothing special, I just called him a repeater and said he liked Barbie dolls," she replied casually before in a more serious tone asking, "Now, can I get you anything? You know, personal servant wise?"

He shook his head and said, "No, I have everything I need for now. Thank you, but just out of curiosity, _does_ Madara like Barbie dolls."

She chuckled. "Nah, he's more into puppets.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

"You're back? I expected you would be hiding in the woods for another week," Izuna said as he stared at his brother.

"I found a way to deal with him, that's why," he replied and continued pacing around his office.

The younger Uchiha raised an eye brow and asked, "Don't tell me you're going to try and kill him again."

He stopped pacing and with a small smirk replied, "No, no... Better. I'm going to get Kasumi to annoy him to death."

"You brought her back here?" was the next question. Madara nodded and said, "Yes, we made a deal, I own her now, but as punishment I made her Harashima's personal servant."

Izuna shook his head and asked yet another question, "You call that punishment? You know Harashima is always nice to anyone that works for him so I think you just gave her a reward _not_ a punishment."

The Uchiha clan leader glared at his brother for a moment before he said, "You're right, I'm going to get her back."

Then he walked out of the room and Izuna sighed, his brother really was such an idiot sometimes.

Madara made his way down the hallways and into the big room where he had left Kasumi. When he walked in he was met by Harashima petting Kasumi's head, while she was sleeping beside him.

He resisted the urge to dramatically gasp. She was sleeping quietly right beside a person she barely new, while she wouldn't even consider sleeping in the same bed as him.

Forcing the twinge of jealously down, Madara strode into the room and loudly stated, "Kasumi, you are coming back with me."

She instantly woke up and when she realized what had just been said she replied, "Oh Madara-sama, forgive me, but I can not come with you because otherwise who would be able to serve our esteemed guest Harashima Senju?"

Then she bat her eye lashes at him and he twitched when he heard the overly polite tone she was using. At least she was finally using the correct honorific with his name.

"He'll be fine, he can take care of himself," Madara replied and in an even sicklier sweet tone she said, "Are you sure? He might get lost in the long, dark and horribly lit hallways of the base and he might accidentally trip and get hurt."

Harashima watched the scene unfold with interest and he briefly wondered who would win this little argument.

Kasumi continued, "Unless... you want our poor guest to get hurt? But that would make you a big, fat meanie wouldn't it you stupid, big, fat meanie?"

The Uchiha tensed up and if they had been alone she might have been in grave danger, but luckily Harashima was there to stop the argument by saying, "Yes Madara, Kasumi has a point and I would love it if she were to continue being my personal servant."

Madara looked like a rat backed up into a corner as he bit out, "Whatever you want, but Kasumi mark my words, you will pay."

She just smiled and waved goodbye as he walked out of the room. Then she let out a relieved sigh and said, "Well, that could have been ugly."

Harashima shook his head and watched as Kasumi yawned before she asked him, "I guess it's almost morning now... so... want to go get breakfast?"

He nodded and they both went to the kitchen, where they ate and then decided to spend the rest of the day walking around the base.

As they walked, Kasumi asked, "Harashima, I have one little question for you... why are you in the Uchiha base in the first place?"

There was a small smile on his lips as he replied, "In one of my... let's call them conversations with Madara, he boasted that his base was better then mine and I was able to trick him into letting me get a chance to see it for a week."

She stared at him with admiration filled eyes and she praised, "Oh... I wish I was like you. I can't trick him into doing anything; I'm usually the one getting tricked."

Giving her a smile he assured her, "Don't worry, it takes practice, but I'm sure that one day you'll be able to play him like a fiddle. Just try hurting his pride and bit by bit you will have him.

She chuckled. "I've tried... I've tried, but all it got me was a bunch of stab wounds, torture via Sharingan and endless threats. This was the best thing that happened to me so far though."

If he was uncomfortable about hearing how Madara hurt her he didn't show it as he suggested, "Have you talked to Izuna about what he did to you?"

Her chuckling continued as she said, "Of course! But all he said was 'I'm just going to go now' and then left."

A little bit of concern slipped through as the Senju clan leader responded, "And you are alright with all of this?"

"Nope, but it doesn't matter. Madara owns me now so apparently I don't have any rights anymore," she said, a little more sober now.

"Slavery is illegal in Fire Country, I could protect you from him," he stated and Kasumi cracked up again.

"I'm sure Madara knows that, but he's the Uchiha clan leader, you think he's going to care? Plus, it's my word against his."

"It doesn't have to be if you trust me, then it would be my word against his," he was beginning to pressure her slightly now and she quickly responded, "Harashima, listen, I'm perfectly fine with everything that is going with my life. I accepted his terms and I was willing when I agreed to be his."

Then before he could respond she changed the subject by saying, "Oh look, there's the garden! Let's go out there."

She ran outside and he trailed behind her.

Suddenly, she stopped and it looked like she was going to say something, but then she was gone.

He shook his head and sat down in the gazebo. Looks like Madara wanted some quality time with his slave.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

"Madara? Why did you do that?" Kasumi asked curiously as she tried to pry Madara's hands off her waist.

"He wouldn't let me just take you, that's why," he responded and before she could say anything else he continued, "Stop squirming, we have to talk."

She looked a little more serious as she said, "Hmm? About what?"

"About you and me, Harashima might try and take you away because _you_ blabbered about how I own you," he half hissed, half stated.

"And you eavesdropped?" she added with a small frown. He ignored her comment and said, "Harashima is obsessed with saving slaves and I know he will never let this drop. I forbid you from talking to him."

Kasumi gave him a confused look and then demanded, "You forbid me? Oh, no that won't make him any more suspicious."

Madara narrowed his eyes and warned, "Remember what I said about your little comments."

She didn't reply, but instead shot him a dirty look. Then he continued, "Alright, you can continue being his personal servant, but no more talk about personal things."

Nodding, she turned to walk out of the room and luckily for her Madara didn't stop her.

Then she quickly made her way out back to the garden and when she saw Harashima she said, "Sorry about that, Madara needed my help with something quickly."

He nodded and replied, "My apologies for prying into your lives, I will not mention anything from the previous conversation anymore."

She gave him a smile and said, "Thank you, that would be much appreciated."

"So, what do you want to do next?"

...

"Wow, it's evening already! I guess I should go to sleep now, you know where your bedroom is right?" Kasumi asked with a yawn.

Harashima nodded and they went their separate ways. They had spent the entire day walking around and looking in almost every single room.

It had actually been very beneficial to both of them. Harashima now knew the entire layout of the base and Kasumi found several new passageways she could use to get around faster.

However, the greatest thing about the tour was that she found this one very beautiful bedroom that was a full five minutes walk away from Madara's bedroom.

This was the perfect place to sleep. No Madara, no rug, no problem.

She stretched and quickly lay down to sleep. Without question, the Uchiha would come to get her sooner or later and she wanted to get some sleep beforehand.

A few hours later, a dark, black haired figure walked into the 'secret' bedroom with a smirk.

So she didn't want to sleep in his bed, but she was perfectly fine with this one.

First, he checked she was asleep and then he climbed into the bed.

He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she woke up.

To be continued...

Hahaha any thoughts?


	14. The True Intentions

Hmm... I actually don't know when to end this story... I originally thought to make it 16 chapters, but I'm already on chapter 14 and still nothing substantial has happened... I guess I have to pick up the pace!

Chapter 14- The true intentions.

"Good morning Kasumi."

"Good morning Madara... Madara! What the hell are you doing in my bed!"

Kasumi flew out of the bed and toward the door like a mentally challenged owl stuck in broad daylight.

In short, she nearly ran into the wall.

"Answer me!" she huffed and tried to calm her beating heart. Madara smirked at her from back on the bed and replied, "You didn't want to sleep on my bed, so I came to sleep in yours."

He watched with amusement as she made a strangling gesture at him and yelled, "It's not about the bed! It's about you! I. Do not want to sleep in the same bed as you!"

By now her breathing was ragged and she looked like a cave woman ready to face off with a dinosaur.

"Too bad, you're stuck with me and I am not changing my decision," he stated smugly.

She was going to argue more, but she realized it was futile so she grabbed her clothes and began walking out of the room.

However, Madara was now standing at the door and he wouldn't let her pass.

"You are not leaving this room until you agree to sleep in the same bed as me," he threatened and she sighed.

"Then you are not leaving this room until you realize I would never agree to something like that," she retorted and sat down in a chair in the room.

If she wasn't going to leave, neither was he.

"Once again, you are wrong," he stated and made a clone. "My clone will watch over you, while I am free to do whatever I please."

At first Kasumi went a little cross eyed at seeing two Madara's and to the clone she whispered, "If you let me out of here, I know where there is a huge stash of wine."

To her surprise, the clone replied, "I am still Madara, and I am the one who made that store in the first place."

She didn't accept that answer and said, "No you didn't, he did." Then she pointed at the real Madara, who just shook his head and left.

"So, you're just as much of an ass as the real thing?" she conversed with boredom leaking through her tone.

He gave her a glare and said, "Whatever gave you the idea I am the clone?"

She gasped and backed away, "You... you're Madara? Why would you stay? I want the clone, not you."

As if there was a difference.

Madara looked down at her with an arrogant smirk and said, "I wouldn't even trust my own clone to look over you, so the clone is doing my daily errands while I will get the pleasure of watching over you."

Scoffing, she said, "What pleasure? I'm going to make this day horrible, and plus I have to go see Harashima and help him around the base."

He shook his head, but didn't say anything. They both knew the Senju clan leader would be just fine all on his own.

"So, you're just going to sit around all day and wait for me to snap?" she casually asked.

"No, I'm going to convince you with my _very _powerful means of persuasion to let me sleep in your bed, _every single night_," he whispered and she instantly asked, "Wait... why do you want to sleep in my bed in the first place?"

He went silent and she knew she had struck gold so she continued, "Well? I'm waiting you know."

Finally, he bit out, "My motives do not need to be explained."

She burst out laughing and pressured him even more, "I don't believe you, I think you don't have an actual reason and that's why you're trying to convince me you... you weird ass perver-"

All of a sudden she found herself pinned to a wall with Madara's warm, demanding lips on her own.  
When he broke the kiss she hesitated for a second before asking, "Why... why did you do that? And why must you constantly pin me to a wall?"

He just licked his lips and whispered, "You ask too many questions."

Then he was about to kiss her again, but she wriggled out of his grasp and yelled, "No! Bad dog, bad! Answer me with an actual answer!"

Madara narrowed his eyes at her, but then replied, "I can do whatever I want with you and pinning a victim to the wall is the best way to stop them from escaping."

She seemed to accept that for a while, but then she asked, "But why do you want to kiss me in the first place?"

His voice lowered a couple of tone and in a husky whisper he said, "Because... you're mine and every time I kiss you, it proves it to me."

For emphasis he kissed her again, but it was too late. The diabolical light bulb had already gone off in Kasumi's head and she was grinning like a maniac.

"So... every time you kiss me I become even more yours? Then... no more kisses!" she announced.

He was about to remind her that her words meant nothing to him, but she was already out of his grasp and running down the hall.

With an annoyed sigh he followed her, but then he sped up when he realized just where she was running to.

The Uchiha weapons and armour storage room.

She burst into the room and ran over to where they kept the helmets and grabbed a black one before roughly putting it on her head.

A few second later, Madara came into the room and his eye involuntarily twitched when he saw Kasumi wearing the hideous thing.

Giving him a wide smile from behind the bars around her face she said, "There! Now you can't kiss me!"

The room suddenly went silent and that's when she realized there were a ton of other Uchiha's in it.

Madara gave them all steady glares and then he quickly dragged Kasumi out of there so she couldn't cause any more damage to his image.

Not that it was a good one to begin with.

"You think that is going to stop me?" he hissed, he was still upset that half of his army now knew he was 'involved' with someone.

She nodded and in a mimic of his deep voice she said, "Yes! This helmet will save me from the perils of your evil yet so soft lips."

"Yet so soft?" he questioned and she sheepishly chuckled before walking off in the opposite direction.

He was standing in front of her in a flash and he asked a different question, "Now where do you think you're going?"

Still mimicking his voice she said, "To Harashima Senju! Maybe then I'll take off the helmet because I wouldn't mind if he kissed me."

It was a complete and utter lie. If anyone else attempted to even touch her she would probably scream like a banshee and run into a pile of sharp glass.

She was no where near used to so much attention because back in her clan she always did her best to ward off anyone of the opposite sex... or any lesbians too.

"You would let... Harashima kiss you," Madara seethed. It wasn't a question; he was still trying to wrap his head around the idea of that calm idiot possibly being warm like _that_.

Kasumi nodded and once again tried to walk away, but he grabbed her and continued to growl, "Why do you refuse me? What have I done to make you repulsed by my very presence? Am I not appealing to you...don't you wish you could forget about all of your worries and let me have you?"

She froze and even behind the helmet he could see her wide, frightened eyes.

Hesitating, she stuttered, "I- I... yes... you are appealing, I'm not blind... but I can't trust you. One moment you're calm and the next you're threatening me or... worse. How do I know you won't suddenly lash out on me again?"

He fell silent and they stared at each other as they tired to recollect their thoughts.

"You don't trust me," he stated and she nodded slightly. "What would it take for you to trust me then?" he asked and took hold of her waist.

Kasumi looked up at him and after a moment's thought said, "Nothing, if I were to trust you I would be a fool."

Then she smiled and continued, "But... I would begin to trust you if you promised that if you hurt me again I would be free to leave and as long as you don't..."

"You will let me sleep in the same bed as you," Madara finished for her.

She flashed him another one of her brilliant smiles and he reached to take the helmet off.

Her smile turned into an evil grin and she added, "But no kissing!"

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

"Did you get up off the wrong side of the bed or what?"

"Shut up, I am in no mood to deal with you right now."

This was Izuna and Madara talking together. You would expect the first person would be Izuna, while the second Madara, but no...

"Izuna, you seem grumpy and I think this is the first time you have ever told me to shut up," Madara conversed with a smirk on his face.

His brother didn't seem to appreciate the comment so he ranted, "While you have been off having fun with Kasumi I have been stuck with all of your paper work. Oh and the fun part is this, most of it is overdue!"

For several more minutes the younger Uchiha ranted and raved about how much of an ass Madara was and when he was finally done...

_Smack._

"Oww!"

"Get a hold of yourself. I haven't seen you rant like this since the time I convinced you to eat a worm," Madara said with a shake of his head.

Izuna seemed to calm down a bit and after he sighed he said in a much calmer tone, "Hmm... I've been calm for twelve years and all of a sudden I snapped. It's your fault you know."

The Uchiha clan leader waved off his words and instead changed the subject by saying, "I managed to convince Kasumi to let me sleep in her bed."

Izuna gave him a look that asked 'I-care?', but then said, "So you're finally going to get laid. I was wondering why you always rejected all those women that threw themselves at you, but now I know. You're a narcissist. "

Madara was a bit taken back by the bluntness of the words, but he recovered and retorted, "No... She won't even let me kiss her."

The younger Uchiha smiled and stated, "You are so whipped."

He glared at his brother, but then averted his gaze and muttered, "Damn it, I am."

...

"Kasumi, what is this?" Madara asked when he saw their bed.

She smiled and said, "I don't know what you're talking about, the bed looks perfectly fine to me."

"You put a brick wall in the middle, how is that _fine_?" he questioned, but just smiled and lay on her side of the wall.

He grumbled slightly, but didn't do anything. He had learned that it is best to let her asleep first and then act.

About an hour later, Madara was able to begin his plan. So she didn't want him sleeping on the same side of the bed as her, but she never bothered to specify which side of the bed was his.

Smirking, he walked to the other side, and lay down beside her.

Bit by bit he would charm her with his god like beauty and then she would be his.

...

Kasumi's mouth hung open, but then she closed it and tried to figure out what was going on.

"You're finally awake?" Madara asked and she could see his chest rising up from the action.

She blushed. "Madara... what are you doing on my side of the bed?"

"Your side? I though this was my side," he stated with a smirk. Her brick wall was her own undoing.

"Okay... then can you let me out of the bed?" she asked meekly and shifted to the side a bit.

The brick wall was preventing her from getting out of the bed. "No, I'm still tired," he pretended.

She muttered something not very nice under her breath and just to annoy her he asked, "What did you say? I didn't hear you."

A fake smile. "I said... what a fine morning this is."

"Really? It sounded a lot more like 'Madara you stupid ass hole I'm going to kill you and then myself'."

Kasumi didn't reply and he continued, "You remember I have to punish you for saying something like that right?"

She gulped and shut her eyes tightly before putting her hands in front of her face.

"That's not going to stop me," he whispered and in a split second she was being restrained to the bed and he was kissing her.

After brief hesitation she started kissing back and Madara internally smirked. So she was slowly warming up to him.

Pushing his luck, he whispered in an even deeper tone, "I want you."

A dark blush was now on her face and she barely managed to stutter, "M-Madara... wait... I... I don't-"

He cut her off with another kiss and his hand began to travel up her stomach.

She stiffened and began to struggle with panic written all over her features.

Madara broke the kiss and she was able to plead, "W-Wait Madara... what are you doing?"

He saw her fear full eyes and tried to calm her down by whispering huskily, "You are mine, and I can do whatever I want... but don't worry... I won't be too rough on you."

Instantly, she realized words would no longer be any help so she used her free hand to push him away from her.

Although he had not bluntly said he was going to do 'it' the slight bulge in his pants said it for him.

She had no idea why he was suddenly acting like this. For the past few weeks he had never indicated he was interested in her and she thought the kisses were merely a sign of ownership, nothing more.

Then, as he was about to grab her hand, she used the brick wall as a spring board and jumped onto the floor.

By now, he realized what she was doing she he probably expected her to run to the door, but no...

It was either the adrenaline or pure stupidity, but Kasumi decided the best way to escape would be through the wall.

She gathered chakra all around her and ran right into it. To her surprise, it actually worked and she was able to run into the next room.

Then she ran over to the window and without any caution jumped out. Hissing as the glass cut her skin, she managed to land on her feet, but her victory was short lived because Madara's hands suddenly grabbed her and she couldn't even struggle.

Her breathing was short and irregular, her heartbeat was going two hundred miles and hour and she looked like a mouse about to be stepped on by an elephant.

She was also shivering, but whether it was from the cold, adrenaline or fear he didn't know.

"Kasumi, what are you doing?" Then in a lower tone, "Are you afraid I'm going to hurt you?"

There was a slight nod and she shakily whispered, "So... sudden... I had no idea ... you even considered such a thing... why...or... did I get the wrong impression?"

She was still hoping she had completely misunderstood everything that had just happened, or better yet, she would wake up any moment now and realize it was all a dream.

But it wasn't a dream.

"I am a man, you are a woman... why else do you think I wanted us to share a bed?" he explained and she almost forgot to breathe.

"So... so... that was your intention all along? Just to use me for your pleasure?" she asked, but with a little more confidence now.

His grip on her tightened and that's when he realized the glass from the window had given her a couple of cuts.

"You're hurt," he stated and thus ignored her previous question.

"Madara... answer me...," she pleaded as he inspected her injuries.

Remembering the question, he frowned and said, "No, that was not my intention. At first I just saw you as my prisoner, but then you showed you were more than that. Even now you are resisting me and I know bedding you will stop that, or at least make it more enjoyable."

Her breath caught in her throat and for a brief second she wondered if she even _wanted_ to breathe again.

She drew in a shaky breath and said, "But did it ever occur to you... that maybe, just maybe... I didn't want that?"

He stayed silent and she realized that was his answer. No, he hadn't thought about what would happen to her.

"I don't want this, not now, not ever... you should know that," she stated, just to make it perfectly clear.

Madara realized what she was saying, but he didn't like it one bit. Her words were not going to stop him from getting what he wanted.

"I don't care, I own you and it doesn't matter what you do or don't want. If I want something, I will take it," he said and to show her he wasn't kidding, he teleported them back to his room, not the one they had just been in, and threw her onto the bed.

"Now you are going to be mine."

To be continued...

Well, I guess this is 'picking up the pace' I know this is nothing compared to some of those crazy angst writters out there, but for me this is the first time I've written something quite so... 'adult' ... but I'm kind of worried, plot wise... Madara isn't the kind of character that can be easily infuenced (easily angered though) so I'm not sure how Kasumi is going to fair... We'll see :)

Reviews?


	15. The Dying Present

I loved all the wonderful reviews I got so far!.. but it makes me all nervous to think if maybe I will mess things up...

katarauchiha653719: hahaha yes, in this fanfic, Madara is in no way 'godly', I am so glad people understand that.

Insert name here: :) I am happy you like the story so far and don't worry, the ending in no way involves... pink houses... and babies... o.O

Chapter 15- The dying present.

"Now you are going to be mine."

Kasumi went wall eyed, this was not how she imagined she would be spending her morning.

However, she had to get out of this situation, fast.

She could barely think as Madara once again forced his lips onto hers and wrapped his hands around her waist.

The more primitive part of her brain was pervertedly telling her to 'enjoy the ride', but everything else was simultaneously chanting 'run, run, run like hell'.

She knew the right thing to do was struggle, scream and run, but she just couldn't.

His grip was too hard for her to struggle, her mouth was too preoccupied to scream and she was pinned down so she couldn't run.

Not good.

Kasumi knew she needed to do something about this so she bit down on Madara's tongue and shut her mouth.

Finally, Madara broke the kiss and said, "I'm giving you one last chance, cooperate with me, or I _will_ make this painful."

For a second she looked like she might be considering it, but then she threw her head back and screamed, "Harashi-"

_Slap._

Two things happened at once, Kasumi whimpered after being slapped and Harashima Senju ran into the room.

When he saw the position they were in and the red slap mark on Kasumi's face he said, "Madara, what is going on here?"

The Uchiha got up off the bed and seethed, "What I do in my bedroom is none of your business."

"It is if Kasumi is not willing and judging by the slap mark she isn't," he returned with as much anger. He did not tolerate it when people of power broke the laws for their own sick needs.

"Get out. I do not need your views on what is right or wrong," Madara growled and activated his Sharingan.

Harashima did not seem phased and he said, "You are a disgrace to the Uchiha clan, I am sure that everyone back in my base would love to hear it."

They continued to exchange insults and meanwhile, Kasumi was able to climb out of the bed, sneak toward the open window and soundlessly climb out.

The Senju had seen her so he purposely continued the argument to give her more time.

Kasumi ran out of the Uchiha clan base and shot into the woods like a bullet.

It was painfully hard on her feet because she was barefoot, but she couldn't stop to waste her time to care.

As she ran, she tried to figure out what she could do. She couldn't make her way back to her clan because it would be too obvious, but where else could she go?

The mountains.

That was her only option. She would have to hide in the wilderness for a while, until Madara forgot about her, and then she would be free to live her life right?

Yes... that had to be true...

However, right now she needed some shoes so she decided to make a small detour to Konoha.

She got there fast and she quickly found a clothing store. Thinking fast, she made a clone, which then transformed into coins.

They were not real coins, but she had no money and no choice.

Kasumi calmly walked into the store, picked out a grey cloak, hiking shoes, a couple of warm shirts, and a backpack.

She paid for everything and hurriedly left in case the clerk noticed the coins were fake.

Then she changed into her new clothes and ran into the forest again. She was sure that by now Madara looking for her.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

"You bastard, you helped her leave!" Madara yelled and threw another punch.

Harashima dodged and replied, "She wouldn't want to leave if it weren't for you."

The Uchiha's frown deepened even more and he attacked with more vigour than before.

By now, they were both outside the base and Harashima was running through the forest trying to get them away from anyone.

He knew Madara was intending to fight him to the death and he would have no choice.

The Senju narrowed his eyes and dodged another hit. This was not how he intended to spend his day.

...

After the Kyuubi is defeated by Harashima and they have been fighting all day.

...

"Die!" Madara bellowed and ran at his target.

Harashima was well prepared though, and not blinded by rage.

He pulled Madara's sword forward and with his own he stabbed him right through the heart.

The Uchiha froze, as if wondering whether to keep fighting or simply die.

"I'm sorry dear friend, I never wanted to do this," Harashima whispered and pulled the sword out.

Madara's body fell to the ground and blood began to pool about.

He looked at the body one last time and then walked away.

How he would miss his best friend.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

Kasumi watched with awe from the distance as the Kyuubi raged around, until it suddenly disappeared.

She was too far away to see Madara and Harashima amidst the chaos, but she wondered if they had something to do with it.

Finally, she turned back to the forest path she was following and began to run. If the battle had nothing to do with Madara she was just wasting time.

Before she knew it, night had crept up on her and she had no where to stay.

Luckily, she was travelling down a cliff side and there were bound to be caves.

Another hour passed and at last she found a cave that could be her temporary hide out.

It was huge, the ceiling was as tall as three totem poles stacked on top of each other and there were endless tunnels going in every direction.

Suddenly, she heard a rustle and she tensed up. Then she heard a voice, but it was hard to tell what was being said so she crept up closer.

"... and this will be my base. That bastard will never even know I'm alive! But I am... I... Uchiha Madara am the ruler of this world! I will destroy Konoha until there is nothing left! Not even a speck of dust will be spared!"

The walls began to shake and Kasumi gasped when she heard the entrance to the cave she had come through close.

"So Kasumi, you have come to my lair? How foolish of you, for you will never be coming out of it," Madara whispered in her ear. He was standing in front of her and he looked horrible.

There was a deep gash on his chest and what looked like a stab wound where his heart was supposed to be.

His hair was matted with blood and his eyes had a very prominent twinge of insanity in them.

"Madara... what happened?" she asked, worry laced into her tone.

"Harashima attacked me and now he thinks I'm dead, but I'm not! I am immortal! I will never die!" he bellowed and she backed away unconsciously.

Suddenly, he clutched his chest and cursed.

That stupid stab wound was taking a very long time to heal.

Her previous fear of him temporarily disappeared and she said, "Madara, lie down, I can take care of your wound."

He stared at her with distrust written all over his features, but at last common sense convinced him to oblige.

Kasumi took one of the extra shirts she had 'bought' out and ripped it to pieces to use as bandages.

Then she carefully cleaned the wound with some water from her water bottle and patched him up. During the entire thing he hadn't made a single sound even though he should have been in excruciating pain.

Finally, she broke the silence by saying, "Madara... you're immortal?"

He smirked. "Yes, I will never die and my pathetic clan will be destroyed while I live and watch."

Confused, she asked, "Destroyed? Who would do such a thing?"

"Harashima Senju, he has made the Uchiha clan the police force of Konoha, but it was all so he could keep watch over us. I know he plans to kill my clan," he sneered, but there was an underlying tone of sadness.

Once again, the magnificent cave fell silent until Kasumi said, "No. Harashima would never do such a thing, but if you know someone will try to kill your clan then it would probably be one of his officials."

Madara narrowed his eyes and tried to remember who the main officials were.

They all seemed normal except for that one guy... Danzo was it? Yes, it was him.

He was the youngest of all the elders, but he was also the sneakiest. If someone was plotting the demise of the Uchiha it would be him.

"But Madara... are you sure someone would try this? Your clan is one of the most powerful in the world, why would someone even attempt it?" Kasumi interrupted his thoughts.

The Uchiha frowned and proclaimed, "Of course I'm sure, but that doesn't matter. I will stay here until it is all over and then I will make my move."

Kasumi furrowed her brow. "You're not going to save them? You have to! If someone is going to try this, you have to save them! It's your job is the clan leader!"

"I am clan leader no more, Harashima has control over them now, and I have tried. No one listened to me and for that they will suffer, they deserve to suffer," he ended darkly.

She frowned and continued, "So you're just going to sit in this cave and wait? I haven't known you for a long time, but I do know this is not normal for you. If they don't believe you, get proof."

He ignored her and instead closed his eyes to rest. Sure, he was immortal, but these wounds would still need time to heal.

By the time he opened his eyes again Kasumi was gone. Madara just sighed; she was probably off trying to convince his clan they were all going to die.

Pathetic.

...

Kasumi ran through the forest as quickly as she could.

She didn't know why she was hurrying, but something told her a very important event was about to happen.

About three hours later, she was half way between the village and the cave she had left Madara in.

Suddenly, a man, about the same age as her, appeared a few feet in front of her. He had a strange scar on his chin in the shape of the letter 'x' and it made him seem much older than he really was.

"Are you Kasumi?" he asked in monotone.

She gave him a confused look, but then answered, "Yes, I am, who are you?"

"I am Danzo, but that is all you need to know before you die," he stated and in a flash he had several kunai in his hands and he threw them right at her.

Kasumi barely had the time to dodge and one of the kunai managed to hit her left arm.

Gritting her teeth, she yelled, "What do you want? Why are you trying to kill me?"

His facial expression didn't change in the slightest as he said, "You are an acquaintance of the recently deceased Uchiha Madara and what you know might be a threat to my plans."

The pieces were slowly connecting in her head and she demanded, "It's you! You're the one that is planning to kill the Uchiha clan!"

Finally, there was a small smile on his face, but it disappeared and whole new barrage of kunai was thrown at her.

This time she wasn't as lucky and several of them managed to hit her.

She hissed in pain, but continued to run away from him. She had to live to warn everyone of the attack and now she had proof; her injuries.

More kunai whizzed past her and she had to make several sharp turns to avoid them.

By now, Danzo was catching up to her and she was getting more and more tired. She knew she would not be able to keep this up for long.

Suddenly, there was a sound of an explosion and Kasumi was thrown forward from the force.

She smashed into a tree and it knocked all the wind out of her. Just as she was going to get up she heard the sound of a sword being drawn.

Turning around, she saw Danzo approaching her, clearly intent to kill.

She knew begging would be useless and there was nothing she could do to get away.

There were no more options.

He now stood a few feet in front of her and the outstretched sword was at her neck.

Then he drew back to slash her neck and she closed her eyes instinctively.

_Splat._

"Ugh"

Kasumi's eyes flew open and she gasped when she saw Izuna standing in front of her, with a sword through his stomach.

"I... ugh... came... just in time..." Izuna whispered and Danzo withdrew his sword.

"No! Izuna! Why did you..."she trailed off and rushed to the Uchiha's side when he staggered and fell to the ground.

"_You_... _have to_... _live_," he whispered one last time and closed his eyes.

Tears began flowing down her cheeks and she muttered his name over and over again in hopes that he would open his eyes again.

Suddenly, the area around Izuna's left eye began to twist and a small black vortex formed.

Danzo realized what this was and he lifted his sword to finish Kasumi off before it was too late.

She saw his weapon and she gasped when it flew toward her, but then everything went black.

...?

What... what was this place?

Everything was swirling around in a circular tunnel and there was a really bright light at the end of it.

Was she... dead?

"_Oh brother hell, do hear my call, as I give my soul to you before I fall."_

Kasumi's eyes widened when she remembered this to be the first lyric of an ancient jutsu her clan had created.

"_Oh mother earth, do know my dreams, as I turn them true through my seams."_

Yes, this was definitely it... but why was she hearing it?

"_Oh father heaven, do forgive my heart, as I bleed it out to stop the start."_

The strange heavenly voices continued to sing.

"_But brother hell, it is not my soul I pay. But mother earth, it is not my dreams I say. Yet father heaven, it is my heart I sway."_

Unfortunately, this jutsu was a suicidal one. It allowed you to take the soul of one person, fulfill the dreams of another, but in return your heart was ripped out of your chest.

"_Brother hell, do take Uzumaki Naruto's soul. Mother earth, do take Uchiha Madara's dreams. Father heaven, do take my heart."_

She furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out who Uzumaki Naruto was and why on earth she would want to fullfill Madara's dreams.

Unexpectedly, everything began to spin twice as fast and felt herself being thrown forward with tremendous force.

She landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Ground?

Then she felt a familiar chakra and she looked up to see a man with short hair, an orange swirly mask and a black cloak with red clouds on it.

"Madara?" she whispered weakly, but then her previous injuries finally took their toll and she passed out.

To be continued!

Okay... I just have a couple of things to say...

1. I know Danzo isn't supposed to be in this time period, but I thought it would be better that way. I needed someone to mess things up and he was the perfect person to do so.

2. Sorry that I made Madara's last battle with Harashima so short... I just didn't want to elaborate on it too much.

3. Izuna was supposed to die before Madara's battle, but then there would be no at least slightly plausible reason the next chapter to exist... you'll see...

4. I hope this isn't too confusing right now, but I'm hoping to clear things up a bit in the next chapter.

5. If the strange poem makes no sense now... it really shouldn't... but it will! :) *evil grin*

Thanks for reading!

Any thoughts?


	16. The Endless Confusion

Well... A couple of chapters ago I said I might end everything at this chapter... but... I really don't see how that would be possible, so I have to continue... :)

Chapter 16- The endless confusion.

Impossible.

Madara looked down at Kasumi's body in silence.

It had been eighty years since he had last seen her, but she looked like she hadn't aged a day.

"Tobi, un, who is this chick and why did she call you Madara?" his partner, Deidera, asked curiously.

For a split second, he almost spoke in his natural deep voice, but then he remembered his alias and cheerfully replied, "No! Tobi doesn't know pretty lady, but Tobi wonders why she is sleeping, is she okay senpai?"

He knew perfectly well she was not fine, but he couldn't let Deidera know that.

"No, un, she's not fine. It looks like someone attacked her with kunai," he replied as he inspected the female.

Then he continued, "Come on Tobi, we don't have time to deal with her."

Behind his ridiculous mask, his eyes were narrowed as he said, "Aww... senpai! I like her! I want to keep her!"

"As a pet?" Deidera questioned. "You know what leader-sama said about your last pet right?"

He smirked; sometimes it paid off to act like a total idiot in front of people he could kill in a millisecond.

"Don't worry Deidera-senpai! This pet Tobi will feed and Tobi will keep her in my room so she won't cause any trouble," Tobi half begged, half pleaded.

The blond looked at the girl, then back at Tobi, then back at the girl again. "Fine, but don't blame me if she dies."

He quickly thanked his partner and picked Kasumi up. The injuries weren't fatal, but they would restrict some movement for her.

Of course, he still had no idea why she was here and un-aged, but that didn't matter right now.

She was alive and this time he wouldn't make the mistake of letting her leave.

...

Madara paced around the room with a frown on his hidden face. What could he do about Kasumi?

He wanted to tell her who he was, where and _when_ she was and to demand what on earth she was doing here.

But... he couldn't. It might ruin his cover-up as Tobi... yes... that cheerful idiot. Maybe Kasumi might like him.

There were other ways to get the information and from then on he would see what to do.

With that decision made, he walked out of the room.

He had to go piss Deidera off.

...

"Ugh... where am I?" Kasumi muttered and looked around the room she was currently in.

The walls were brown and there were no windows, there was very little furniture and she was sitting on a bed with black covers.

How depressing.

She gasped when she remembered what had happened before she passed out.

Izuna... Danzo... and then Madara?

She clearly remembered sensing Madara's chakra, but the man that had stood in front of her looked nothing like him.

The door opened and in came the orange masked man.

Yes, his chakra was unmistakable Madara's.

"Madara... what happened? Where am I and... Why are you wearing that thing?" she questioned as he sat down on the bed beside her.

"Madara? Tobi doesn't know who Madara is. Tobi is Tobi and Tobi is the one that helped you because Tobi is a good boy!" he cheered and she backed away from him.

"No... you... you can't be Tobi... your chakra...," she began, but then slumped in her bed and shook her head.

"You can't be Madara... he would become a transvestite than wear that... mask," she continued.

He tried to look offended as he said, "Pretty lady doesn't like Tobi's mask? But Tobi thinks it's the most beautiful mask in the world!"

She actually cracked a small smile and she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, but my name's Kasumi."

"Kasumi, Kasumi, Kasumi pretty name!" Tobi exclaimed and she chuckled.

There was no way this could possible be Madara, maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her that his chakra felt familiar.

"So Tobi... where am I and do you know what happened?" she asked and stared at him intently.

He wagged his finger at her and scolded, "Tobi can't tell you that you're in the super secret Akatsuki base!"

She raised an eye brow at him and he yelled, "Oh no! Tobi told you the secret! Tobi is a bad boy!"

Her eye brow continued on its journey up her forehead as she hesitantly comforted, "No... It's okay Tobi... you're a ... good boy..."

Tobi jumped off the bed and began running around the room screaming 'Tobi's a good boy' over and over again.

By now, Kasumi was seriously freaked out and all she wanted was to get the hell out of the room and get some information.

She had never heard of this 'Akatsuki base' and by the looks of this member, she thought that perhaps she didn't want to.

"Tobi has to take you to leader-sama now! Come on Kasumi-chan, we can't be late," he suddenly interrupted her thoughts and she slowly climbed out of the bed.

He led her out of the room and down the long, winding hallways.

But... something seemed familiar... these walls...

Soon enough they were at the entrance to a large cave and Kasumi gasped.

This... this was...

"Come, come Kasumi-chan!" Tobi once again interrupted and led her out of the large cave and down another hallway.

A few minutes later they were standing at a large door, which eerily opened by itself.

Tobi goofily waltzed in and Kasumi trailed behind him slowly. If this was some sort of trap she wanted to at least see it coming.

"Sit down," a deep voice from the shadows commanded and Tobi instantly threw himself on a nearby chair.

She followed suit in a chair beside him and the voice spoke again, "Who are you and what are you doing here."

Tobi didn't let her reply as he stated, "This is Kasumi-chan! My new pet! I found her on the ground sleeping and then I took her!"

He watched with amusement as her facial expression turned into a look of horror and she stuttered, "Pet? I... I'm not a pet and I don't understand why you're here, this cave was uninhabited when Madara found it and there certainly weren't any rooms or furniture."

Finally, a man with a black cloak like Tobi's walked out of the shadows. He had bright orange hair and there were many piercings on his face.

"Madara? Uchiha Madara?" he questioned.

"Yes! He came into this cave and I came in sometime after him. There wasn't a single sign this place was inhabited and he's probably still somewhere around here... I have to go find him," she stated, but she was still horribly confused.

The orange haired man looked at Tobi, who nodded, before saying, "Uchiha Madara is dead."

She didn't look fazed as she replied, "I know everyone thinks that, but Harashima didn't kill him. I was there to bandage his wounds and I know he's alive." She wanted to add that he was immortal, but she didn't.

"That doesn't matter, even if he did live after that battle he would he dead now. And so should you, the battle between Uchiha Madara and Harashima Senju was eighty years ago."

Kasumi's eyes widened in shock and she muttered, "No... That's impossible... It was yesterday... you're lying!"

But... the pieces were slowly fitting together. It explained why the cave was now settled it, why she had never heard of the 'Akatsuki's' and why the man was so surprised to hear about Madara.

"This is no lie, but now answer me. What are you doing here and now?" he demanded in monotone.

She shook her head and tried to recall the facts. "After I bandaged Madara... I left to go to Konoha to inform the Uchiha's there was going to be an assassination attempt on them... half way there a man named Danzo attacked me..."

Tobi tensed up; Danzo was the reason he hadn't been able to find her all these years?

She sighed and swallowed the lump in her throat as she continued, "Then Izuna showed up... I don't know how he got there, but he took the blow for me and he died... after that... a strange vortex formed around his eye and everything went black."

"Next thing I know, I'm on the ground and Tobi is looking at me," she finished off and buried her head in her hands.

Izuna had died for her and now Madara was dead too?

It took her every ounce of will not to run out of the cave and look for Madara herself.

He couldn't be dead; he was immortal... but... if he was dead...

The lump had now grown into a full-blown choke hold and as more questions were directed at her all she could do was shake her head.

Finally, the orange haired man sighed and said, "Tobi, take her back to your room to rest. This information seems to be too much for her."

She didn't protest as she was led down the hallways again and into Tobi's room.

Then Kasumi sat down on the bed and whispered, "Tobi... tell me the truth... has it really been eighty years?"

He remembered to stay in character as he said, "Yup! But why do you look so sad? Did you like dead Madara-san?"

"Yes... but I guess you don't know what you need until it's gone..." she whispered and a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

How pathetic. Here she was, crying for a man that only caused her harm... however... he had helped save her clan... and he did give her a home...

Tobi sat down beside her and loudly announced, "Deidera senpai told me people needs hugs when they're sad! I'm going to give you a hug!"

She would have pushed him away, but she was just so tired, so confused.

Kasumi sat in his embrace and tried to stop herself from crying, but in the end she broke into a quiet sob.

Now that Madara was gone... she would always have a hole in her heart.

...

Tobi put Kasumi down on the bed quietly.

She had fallen asleep in his arms and he prided himself that finally, if subconsciously, she accepted him.

Too bad she didn't know it was him.

He tucked her in and left the room to go back to the 'leader's' room to talk. They needed to discuss what to do with Kasumi.

When he got there, Pein was already waiting for him and Tobi quickly took off his mask.

He just couldn't talk seriously with that thing on; even though he had worn it for so long he was still repulsed by it.

"Madara, is this the same Kasumi you mentioned disappeared eighty years ago?" Pein asked quietly.

He nodded, "Yes, this is my Kasumi and I intend to keep my identity a secret from her for now. However, I am going to keep her close."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? She might figure out who you are and blow your cover," Pein warned, but then instantly regretted it.

Madara frowned and sneered, "Do not question my orders, she will always be within my sight and you will do nothing to stop that."

All he did was nod, saying anything to Madara about Kasumi was like trying to convince a dog not to bark.

Then Madara put his mask back on and said, "Send me, Deidera and Kasumi on a mission scouting Konoha tomorrow."

He quickly left and Pein shook his head. Looks like Tobi was going to be even more mental than usual and Madara way more demanding.

What was this world coming to?

...

Kasumi woke up to find she was alone in the room and she instantly jumped out of the bed.

Now she could finally be free to explore.

Suddenly, she hunched and grabbed her sides. Eighty years may have passed, but those injuries were still very fresh.

She quietly opened the door, looked around and then snuck out into the hallway.

It took her twenty minutes to get back to the large cave and just as she stepped out from behind the wall...

"You are Kasumi?"

She nearly swore as she turned around and saw another cloaked man staring at her. This one had black hair in a pony tail and... The Sharingan?

"I am Uchiha Itachi," the man stated and she asked, "Wait... how did you know my name, Itachi?"

He stepped forward and said, "I found your name and description in the old Uchiha criminal record files... it seems you are the sole survivor of the Mountain Clan, but you are also its traitor."

Her eyes widened and she yelled, "Sole survivor? That's impossible! My clan got along with all the other clans perfectly!"

Itachi sighed at her loudness, but continued, "They attacked Konoha when they found out about Uchiha Madara's and Uchiha Izuna's deaths, but they lost and as they were heading back other clans wiped them out."

Kasumi narrowed her eyes and asked, "Why are you telling me this? You could be lying for all I know."

"I am telling you because I know one thing for certain, Uchiha Madara is alive and he plotted and executed the murder of the entire Uchiha clan."

His words were like knives cutting into her skin and for a second she was paralyzed with relief, anger, shock and regret.

"No... But... he wouldn't do that... he loved his clan... and you're alive! If he had wanted to kill them he would have spared no one," she was breathing heavily now.

Itachi smirked and said, "That's because I helped him do it."

Just like that, he was gone and Kasumi was left alone standing in the passage way.

Could his words be true? Was Madara really alive, but if he was... why would he kill the clan? And... Her clan was wiped out too?

Nothing made sense and she sighed when she realized it would be a while before she could understand anything.

Suddenly Tobi was in front of her and he said, "Kasumi-chan left the room without permission! Kasumi-chan is a bad, bad girl! Pets have to act their owners before they do something!"

She narrowed her eyes at him and suddenly demanded, "Tell me about Uchiha Itachi."

He frowned, but cheerfully replied, "Itachi-san is a meanie! He-" "killed his entire clan?" she added.

Tobi looked down and said, "Yes, Itachi-san did that, but Kisame-san seems to like him."

She didn't know who this 'Kisame' person was, but she didn't really care as she continued, "He just talked to me, he said he knows Madara is alive and he said he was the one that helped him kill his clan."

His eyes narrowed dangerously and he went silent for a moment. He forgot that he had shown Itachi he was alive a few years ago.

At least he didn't know he was Tobi.

Finally he gasped and said, "Madara-san is alive? But leader-sama said he was dead."

Kasumi shook her head and Tobi noticed her hands were fisted. "I should have known! That bastard and Danzo must have been in on the whole thing and I was just the 'third wheel'. He tried to get me killed so he could wipe the clan out himself!"

Tobi's eyes widened and he realized his mistake.

Now it looked like he (Madara) had tried to kill her even though he was actually against Danzo.

She looked up at Tobi sharply and vowed, "I'm going to find Madara and avenge my clan! If he hadn't pretended to be dead, Izuna would have lived and my clan would have never attacked and been wiped out!"

His eyes widened even further and he swore under his breath.

Because of that bastard Danzo, Kasumi hated him and he would never be able to reveal his identity to her.

Then she directed a bit of her anger at Tobi as she said, "And I'm not your pet! I was Madara's clueless possession and I refuse to be owned by anyone ever again!"

Tobi backed up a step and tried to look afraid, but then he yelled, "Okay! Then Kasumi-chan can be Tobi's friend instead!"

Her anger disappeared when she heard she cheerfulness in his tone and she even smiled a bit as she said, "I would like that."

"Is Kasumi-chan hungry? The kitchen is at the faaaaar end of the tunnel!" he offered and she began walking in the direction he had said.

As he was about to follow behind her, Pein appeared from behind the corner and said, "So now all the blame is on you, Madara."

He glared at the orange haired man and said, "Shut up, you're just jealous because Konan shot down your 'romantic' attempt at getting laid."

Pein narrowed his eyes and muttered, "How was I supposed to know she wasn't into torture?"

To be continued...

Hmm... yes I know I muddled everything up by bringing in this time jump, but bear with me... everything will hopefully explain itself...

But if I hadn't changed the timeline, I wouldn't have been able to include the Akatsuki's and the plot would have been practically non existent...

Any thoughts?


	17. The Devil's Deal

Okay... I guess in this chapter I have to explain things a bit more before I get alone with the plot, romance etc.

Chapter 17- The devil's deal.

Kasumi sat in the kitchen, deep in thought.

All the information she had gotten was just too much and she didn't even know if any of it was real.

Assuming that it was, she knew this much:

-Madara was alive and he and Itachi had killed the clan.

-Somehow, Danzo fit into this thing as well.

-Her clan was wiped out as a result of Madara's actions.

-She was eighty years in the future in the same cave she had last seen Madara.

-Tobi was now her friend.

The last fact seemed irrelevant compared to the others, but in this time of confusion she needed some sort of anchor to reality.

Suddenly, Tobi poked her and asked, "Kasumi-chan doesn't like Tobi's cooking?"

She looked down at her plate of severely burned rice and raw beef with raised eye brows.

Surely Tobi knew if she ate this she would be sick. "Oh, don't worry Tobi, I like your cooking, I'm just... not that hungry."

At that extremely silent moment, her stomach decided to intervene by roaring for all it was worth. Clearly claiming that she indeed was very hungry.

Tobi looked at her stomach and said, "But your stomach says you're hungry!"

She chuckled nervously and took a cautious spoonful of rice. Then, she took a deep breath and stuffed it in her mouth before swallowing it whole.

Success! The vile thing had not touched her tongue.

"Mmm, delicious!" she announced, but didn't take any more.

He seemed to accept that and he dug into his own portion. After all these years he got used to his purposely horrid cooking and he even started to doubt if he could cook well in the first place.

A few minutes later, two men walked into the kitchen. One had white hair and a three pronged scythe, while the other had stitches all over his face.

When Tobi saw them he yelled, "Kakuzu-string-man and Hidan-grim-reaper!"

They both glared at him, but then turned their attention to Kasumi, who figured out from Tobi's nicknames which one was which.

Then Hidan turned to Kakuzu and said, "I don't fricken believe it, Tobi got a girl!"

Kakuzu didn't look like he cared as he replied, "It's probably not what you think, I don't even know if Tobi has reached puberty."

Both of them chuckled for a second and then Kasumi said, "Hello, I'm Kasumi, but I'm not Tobi's girl, just his friend."

They exchanged a look and Hidan narrowed his eyes, "Oh God, it's a female Tobi isn't it! Why the fuck would leader do this to us!"

She smirked, so Tobi had quite a reputation. "No, I'm not like Tobi, don't worry, but could someone please tell me why everyone I've seen so far is wearing nail polish?"

Tobi resisted the urge to burst into maniacal laughter. He had only made everyone wear black nail polish because he wanted to emasculate the men.

Good thing he had gloves to cover for the fact that he himself refused to wear the stuff.

Kakuzu answered, "It's because leader-" "-Is a total fucking gay ass," Hidan finished for him.

Kasumi chuckled and then pointed to the burned rice, "Want some?"

They glanced at Tobi and simultaneously answered 'no' before leaving the kitchen like it had just been infected with the plague.

"No one likes my cooking!" Tobi suddenly burst out and began waving his hands around in the air.

"It's okay Tobi... maybe they aren't hungry," she offered in an attempt to comfort him.

He crossed his arms and pouted, "Yes they are! They just came back from a week long mission!"

This caught her attention and she questioned, "Mission? You Akatsuki members get missions? So you're like the anbu?"

"Yup! We get missions, but we don't help the Hokage, we're the Akatsuki and we're against Konoha!" Tobi announced and the kitchen went silent.

Against... Konoha?

"Tobi, Kasumi," another voice interrupted her thoughts and when she looked up she saw it was the leader.

He continued, "Get Deidera and prepare to go on a mission tonight. You will scout Konoha for any signs of political unrest and report back here in three days. Kasumi, you come with me."

She hesitated and briefly wondered who Deidera was, but then followed the leader. (No pun intended)

He led her to a room she had never been in before and said, "I know your loyalties lie with Konoha, but I believe I can make you switch to our side."

Narrowing her eyes, she said, "Oh? Really? You sound very sure of yourself, but let me guess. It's the standard death threat right?"

He ignored her words and continued, "I know you want revenge on Madara, and Itachi has informed you he is alive, but every single person in your precious Konoha knows nothing of him. They think he is dead and if you think you can get a lead from there, you are wrong."

Her eyes narrowed further, but she didn't say anything as he finished off, "I know where Uchiha Madara is and if you are loyal for three months, I will tell you."

Kasumi stared at him for a second before asking, "How do I know you're telling the truth? You might not have any idea where he is and I will just be wasting my time."

There was a rustle and he pulled out a medium sized package, which he then gave to Kasumi.

She opened it and her eyes widened when she saw it was the rug she had to sleep on back in the Uchiha base.

"He told me this is what you slept on and gave it to me for safe keeping, that is your proof that I am telling the truth," he said and she passed the rug back to him.

Then she frowned, she couldn't believe he had kept the damn thing for so long.

"Alright, I will be loyal to the Akatsuki for three months, but if I do not get my information you know I will go to Konoha and reveal the location of this base," she warned and they shook on it.

"Now go on your mission," he ordered and she obliged. This was saving her a lot of time.

If the deal came through she would have to trouble finding Madara, yes, no trouble at all.

...

"Deidera senpai! Deidera senpai! Look! Look! Look! Tobi found a hole in a tree!" Tobi announced and Deidera visibly twitched.

"That's nice Tobi, un, why don't you stick your hand in it?" he offered in hopes a snake or a tarantula would climb out of there and kill Tobi.

A few seconds later the reply came, "Deidera senpai... Tobi needs help!"

The blond just shook his head and kept walking, while Kasumi stayed behind to help Tobi pull his hand out of the hole.

Not a very good idea.

"Kasumi-chan, are those... bees?" Tobi whispered to Kasumi, who by now was running through the forest at a mile a minute.

He followed in suit and they ran past a very annoyed looking Deidera. "Run!" Kasumi warned him and she ran further and further away.

Soon, they decided they had run far enough and just as Tobi was going to say something...

"AHHH! BEES!"

They laughed quietly. It was his own fault for not listening to the warning.

_Bing! Bam! Ka-BOOOOM!_

"What... what was that!" Kasumi yelled from behind the tree she had hid in when she heard the first explosion.

Tobi just continued to laugh as he said, "That's Deidera senpai's art! He likes to blow stuff up!"

A few seconds later, the blond walked out of the smoke and screeched, "TOBI! Look what you did to my tongue, UN!"

Then he showed him his palm and the swelled up tongue sticking out of it. Yes, that was the first thing she learned about Deidera.

He had mouths on his palms and it looks like one of them got bitten right on the tongue... ouch.

The next few minutes were full of Deidera screaming curses at Tobi, who cowered in the bushes.

And apparently, this was considered 'normal' among the partners. Now that, she would never understand.

Well, if she thought about it, it was similar to her relationship with Madara. She did something stupid, he yelled at her. Tobi did something stupid, Deidera yelled at him.

However... that made Deidera... gay... and even though he looked like a girl he didn't exactly seem like the gay type.

Neither did Tobi.

But then again, with Tobi you would never know.

"Come on Kasumi, un, we have to go," Deidera said in a calmer tone. He was determined not to let Tobi's insane antics ruin his chances of a nice conversation with her.

"Coming!" she called and ran after him, while dragging a semi conscious Tobi.

He really was quite heavy, even if he did move around like a feather. He actually seemed to weigh as much as Madara...

She shook her head and picked up her pace. For the next three months she had to forget about him and focus on completing the missions.

...

"Pull my finger!"

Kasumi sighed and closed her eyes in a vain attempt to get some sleep.

"Come on Deidera senpai, pull my finger!" Tobi asked again, and the tired blond did, just to make him shut up.

Tobi made a ridiculously fake farting noise and began chuckling, while Deidera and Kasumi groaned.

Where they ever going to get any sleep?

They had been walking the entire day and they were so exhausted they simply had no more energy to ward off Tobi's annoyingness.

Suddenly, everything turned slow motion as Deidera yelled, "Kasumi look out!", when he saw Tobi making a dive for her.

Her eyes turned into saucers and there was barely enough time for her to roll out of the way.

_Thud!_

"Owieeee, Tobi got hurt!"

Kasumi looked at the face down form of Tobi and sighed. Now _that_ she had not been expecting.

"Tobi... why did you try and flatten me?" she asked in a tone of curiosity and annoyance.

He turned to look up at her and pouted, "Tobi wanted to snuggle with Kasumi-chan!"

She visibly flinched as she said, "No thanks, the last person I snuggled with tried to kill me."

Behind the mask, his face fell and he remembered his predicament and how he wouldn't be able to reveal his identity to her for another three months. Good thing he had planned ahead with Pein.

Finally, Deidera said, "Kasumi goodnight and Tobi shut up and sleep, un."

They mumbled similar things back at him and then quickly fell asleep. However, Tobi took a couple of seconds to watch Kasumi sleep before closing his eyes.

She was so close and yet he couldn't touch her.

...

The next morning could only be described as one word: _Boom!_

Kasumi and Deidera had been pleasantly sleeping when out of no where their camp turned into a large hole in the ground when Tobi got his hands on Deidera's clay.

The blond woke up and when he saw Tobi + Clay he screamed bloody murder and jumped on him.

Of course, Tobi ran and Kasumi slapped her forehead as she watched Deidera run after Tobi, catch him and then proceed to choking him half to death.

So this was what every morning was going to be like.

After that little fiasco, they all ate breakfast and did a transformation jutsu before walking into Konoha.

They were posing as travelling ninja looking for a place to settle down. When they got into Konoha, they went straight to the Hokage's building to ask a few officials any information about what part of town was best to live in, how expensive homes were etc.

Tobi was the one that did most of the talking and Deidera and Kasumi took the distraction to excuse themselves to go to the bathroom.

Then both of them to headed upstairs to the main meeting room and put a little spy camera in before leaving.

That way, they would be able to see and hear everything going on in this evenings meeting without having to risk their lives.

They both came down stairs and they were not very surprised to see Tobi chattering away to a now very bored looking guard.

When he saw them he said his goodbyes and then they left.

"That's it?" Kasumi asked when they were outside of Konoha.

Deidera nodded and said, "Yeah, un, this was an easy mission for us. It's more of a vacation than a mission really."

Then Tobi added, "Did Kasumi-chan have fun?" She smiled and nodded, this actually turned out better than expected.

In the evening, they made camp and used an interesting device she had never seen before to watch the meeting.

The second she saw the officials she grabbed the device and zoomed in.

Impossible... he had to be dead! She glared at the image on the screen before biting out, "That. Is Danzo. He killed Izuna and he tried to kill me."

Deidera's mouth turned into an 'o' of understanding and he said, "Then we have to watch him. If there is something suspicious going on it will probably start with him."

Three painfully long hours later, no new information was found and nothing unusual happened.

All Danzo did was frown and not say anything. Though, it was some comfort for Kasumi that he was all bandaged up and he couldn't see with his left eye.

Finally, Deidera said, "Oh well, we have nothing new to report to leader-sama, un."

The other two members of the group nodded and they quickly set up camp before going to sleep.

Tomorrow they had a lot of walking ahead of them.

The next morning was much, much worse than the first. In fact, the first morning was like a little piece of heaven compared to this one.

Why? Well, Tobi decided he would snuggle with Kasumi, but in the dark, he ended up mistaking Deidera for her.

Kasumi had woken up feeling well rested and as she turned to say 'good morning' to Deidera and Tobi she choked on her own spit when she saw the position they were in.

Deidera woke up from the sound of her choking and when he asked what was wrong she merely pointed at Tobi, who was drooling on him.

"TOBI GET OFF ME!" Deidera screeched and Tobi woke up with a start.

When he saw he was gripping onto the blond, he was going to jump away in disgust, but he had to stay in character so he said, "Why Deidera senpai? Tobi likes to snuggle with you!"

Meanwhile, Kasumi was turning blue because as she had been choking a fly flew right into her throat and made things ten times worse.

Neither male seemed to notice any of this though, as they continued their little argument.

"Tobi, un! I already told you to get off me!" the yelled, but Tobi just gripped tighter and refused to let go.

By now, she was on the verge of passing out and she began to stagger about the camp.

Finally, Deidera noticed her, but it was too late because she tripped over his leg and fell right on Tobi, who let go of the blond and killer gripped Kasumi.

The strength of Tobi's grip forced the fly out of her and she took a deep breath before yelling, "I didn't know you and Tobi were gay!"

There was a split second of deathly silence before the males simultaneously yelled 'nooooo!'

She finished catching her breath and asked, "Then... why were you snuggling?"

Deidera glared at Tobi, who gulped and let go of Kasumi as he said, "Tobi thought Deidera senpai was Kasumi and he wanted to snuggle!"

This started off a whole new argument, in which Deidera screamed about how he wasn't a girl.

It was all really funny, but no one was laughing because neither of them got what they had wanted.

Deidera and Kasumi had wanted a nice sleep, but instead they got Tobi induced chaos. Tobi had wanted to snuggle with Kasumi, but instead he got Deidera's skinny little ass.

Twenty minutes later, they were all argued out and they wanted nothing more than to head back to the base and have a little 'me time'.

The next few hours were silent as they trudged through the forest, but at exactly noon, like an alarm clock, Tobi began to run around both of them in circles.

At first they quietly ignored it and struck up their own conversation. However, Tobi began to sing... and it wasn't a pretty sound.

So this was how the next few hours passed by, until Deidera got some clay and chucked it at Tobi's mouth, thus successfully shutting him up...

...Until he began to hum.

To be continued!

Things make more sense now right? I hope they do and if they don't here is a basic re-cap:

-Kasumi blames Madara for the death of her clan and she wants revenge.

-Pein had promised her she will get that revenge in three months.

-Madara orchestrated all of this, but only Pein knows it.

Any thoughts?


	18. The First Nightmare

Sometimes I think Tobi is a little _too_ in character as a crazy loon... but somewhere beneath all of that is Madara... or maybe it's just more Tobi... *shrugs* we'll see ;)

P.S. Sorry, but there is no Orochimaru or Sasori in this one.

Chapter 18- The first nightmare.

"Tobi wants Kasumi-chan to meet all of the Akatsuki!" Tobi announced a couple of days after their mission.

Kasumi raised an eye brow at him, but waited for him to continue. "Come, Tobi has an idea!"

She followed him as he ran down the hallway in the direction of the leader's room. When she got there, Tobi had somehow managed to get his hands on a rubber chicken.

He turned to look at her and screamed, "Tobi is going to surprise leader-sama!"

In the room, Pein sighed and buried his head in his hands. Why did Karma hate him so much?

Then, Tobi ran into the room and ran up to the leader, who for a split second looked like he was going to scream bloody murder, and slapped him across the face with the rubber chicken.

Back in the door way, Kasumi gasped at the boldness Tobi was showing, but when she saw the expression on Pein's face she couldn't help but laugh.

"Surprise!" Tobi yelled and then bolted out of the room before Pein could scream at him... or beg for mercy.

She saw a dark glare being directed at her so she quickly followed after Tobi in hopes of confiscating the chicken before it caused any more trouble.

When she finally caught up to him he said, "That was leader-sama! Now you have to meet Konan-chan!"

Kasumi paled slightly and she said, "Tobi... wait... are you going to slap her on the face too?"

He started to laugh and when she saw what he was holding in his hands, her mouth hung open, but just as she was about to say something Tobi took of running again.

She swore and ran after him; if Konan got hit in the face with _that_ there would be a lot of trouble.

Much to her dismay, Tobi was a much faster runner than her and she could barely keep up to him.

Soon they were close to Konan's room and Kasumi knew she had one last chance to stop Tobi before it was too late.

She increased her pace and with one last push she jumped into the air and flew at Tobi.

He didn't see it coming, but it was too late because he was already at the door way to Konan's room and she was staring at him with wide eyes.

Just as he pulled the trigger, Kasumi collided with him and the shot was directed away from Konan.

_Splat! Splat! Splash!_

It... it was everywhere!

Konan looked around her room and sighed. Once again, her room was ruined by Tobi.

There was rainbow coloured paint all over the walls, but thanks to Kasumi's intervention none of the paint gun's ammunition had hit her.

"Tobi! What were you thinking?" Kasumi scolded as she looked down at him. Since she had collided with him, she was now sprawled on top of him.

Konan stepped out of her room and said, "You must be Kasumi, it is nice to meet you, but if I were you, I would stay away from Tobi. Permanently."

He glared at her through his mask, she knew of his true identity and she was trying to warn Kasumi.

Then, before anything else could be said Konan left and they were alone in the hallway.

"Tobi, don't you ever do that again! You can't be a good boy if you do things like that!" she continued to scold, but failed to notice when Hidan began walking their way and heard her.

"But Tobi wanted Kasumi-chan to be happy! Let him try again!" Tobi said and by now Hidan had seriously misunderstood the topic of the conversation.

"No, I don't want to, just forget about it and we'll try it again later," she sighed and she was about to get up off him, but then Hidan made himself known.

"Oh fuck! They're having sex in the hallway!"

They both looked up and saw Hidan looking down at them with an extremely shocked facial expression.

Before Hidan could make things worse, Kasumi explained, "No! We're not! You sick pervert, we were talking about how Tobi shouldn't attack other Akatsuki members with paint guns!"

He looked confused, but then relived as he said, "Good, I've had enough of walking into people doing that."

She didn't ask, but instead stood up and Tobi did the same. "Tobi has a present for Hidan!" he suddenly announced and everything went deathly silent as he jumped on the poor white haired man.

The silence suddenly cracked like a broken mirror when Hidan screamed, "AHHHHH, DON'T FUCKING PULL MY HAIR!"

Needless to say, everyone in the Akatsuki base heard it.

Suddenly, Tobi let go of Hidan and he ploughed face first into the ground from the force of being released.

"Mmmhh yuh fhuckshing bahhtard I'm ghoing to khimmllllll yooohhhh!"

Translation to normal English: "Ahh, you fucking bastard I'm going to kill you!"

Tobi understood the message loud and clear so he quickly yelled, "Kasumi-chan has met Hidan!" and then bolted down the hallway again.

He continued to swear and eventually Kasumi just shrugged and ran after Tobi. Surely enough he wanted her to meet more of the Akatsuki members.

How many of them were there anyway!

"Tobi! Wait! How many other Akatsuki members are there?" she yelled as she struggled to catch up to him.

He stopped and said, "Mmm... there is Deidera senpai, Itachi-meanie-san, Kisame-fish-san, Kakuzu-stitch-face, Zetsu-plant-san and there were also Sasori-puppet-san and Orochimaru-the-creepy-snake-rape-san, but they are not here now. Sasori is dead and Orochimaru ran away."

She paused for a second to digest the nicknames, but then said, "And you want me to meet all of them today? It's okay... the ones I've met so far are enough okay?"

Tobi didn't look happy as he crossed his arms and pouted, "But Tobi wanted to make Kasumi-chan happy!"

"I will be happy, but only if you promise no more pranks!" she was trying to be reasonable and to prevent any further damage in the base.

He sighed and muttered, "Tobi agrees."

"Great! Now who's next?"

...

"Okay, so today I've met, leader-sama, Konan, Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidera and Zetsu," Kasumi did a basic recap of all the people she had talked to.

"Yup! Now Kasumi-chan has to meet Kisame-san and Itachi-san!" Tobi said and marched down the hallway in the direction of the partner's rooms.

She ran after him and tried to recollect her thoughts. Somehow she had to get more information out of Itachi.

If he had met Madara he would know what he looked like, and perhaps where he had last been.

Even though the information was supposed to be given to her in three months time, she didn't want to be completely shocked and she wanted to have a couple of leads of her own.

Tobi knocked on the door, but somehow he didn't seem as cheerful as before.

She shook her hear, it had to be her imagination. Tobi was always cheerful!

"Itachi-san! Tobi wanted you to meet Kasumi-chan!" he announced before walking into the Uchiha's room.

He sighed, but didn't protest as they sat in his room and stared at him intently.

Kasumi didn't waste time and she cut right to the chase by saying, "What did Madara look like when you saw him?"

At first Itachi narrowed his eyes, but then relinquished the information. "He had long black hair and he looked like he was twenty five, even though he was a hundred."

(A/N: I know in the manga he had wrinkles, but if this is going to be a love story he can't be some ugly ass pedophile... so uh... he looks young...)

She nodded and said, "I doubted he would have cut his hair. He was like a woman that way, always fussing about his appearance."

Tobi bit his tongue to stop himself from defending his pride. Here he was, sitting and acting like an idiot as they talked about him without any knowledge he was in the same room.

"Where was the last place you saw him?" she asked and didn't tear her eyes off him as he replied, "The Uchiha clan base when we committed the murders."

A few minutes passed before she asked the next question, "Why did he want to kill the clan in the first place?"

"He never said, but he gave the hint he wanted revenge over some wrong that happened in the past."

Finally, Tobi spoke up, "Tobi is bored! Tobi doesn't understand who Kasumi-chan is talking about!"

She looked at him and replied, "Oh, I'm sorry Tobi, and Itachi, thank you for telling me what you knew... I'm sorry for bothering you."

Then she left and Tobi followed her silently. They walked the short distance to Kisame's room without a single word being spoken.

Tobi was pleased Kasumi was still thinking about him, but it was all for the wrong reasons. He wanted her to worry for him, care for him, but instead she wanted to rip him to shreds.

Not that he would let her of course.

However, he still had a little under three months to figure out what to do and one thing was for certain:

This time, she would be his.

Tobi knocked on the door to Kisame's room and the instant it opened, Kasumi's eye brows went on a long journey up to the very top of her forehead.

"Tobi. What do you want?" he grumbled, but when he saw her he added, "I mean, come in, come in."

They came in and instantly they were bombarded by the pungent stench of fish guts.

"Ooh... umm... what... a nice room," Kasumi managed to say without puking in her mouth.

Tobi smirked and remembered the first time he had been in Kisame's room. It had taken him all of his will power not to set everything on fire right then and there.

"Thank you, I try my best to make my room smell like home," Kisame replied and she let out a small nervous chuckle when she imagined this shark-like mans home.

"So, you must be Kasumi. I have heard a lot about you and how you time travelled here," he continued and she stared at him intently in an effort to find out if he breathed from his nose or gills.

Finally, she snapped out of her trance and said, "Oh, yes... about that... I didn't exactly time travel, it was more of an accident than by my will and I still don't understand why it happened."

"Interesting, but before you ended up here, you had been with Madara?" he asked and she gave him a suspicious glance so he explained, "Itachi hates Madara's guts and he would never ask anything about him so I wanted to get some information for him."

What the shark man was saying seemed to make sense. Itachi didn't seem like the kind to pry so she answered his question, "Yes, I had been living with Madara at the time."

"So, what was he like?" Kisame continued and Tobi shifted in his seat.

He didn't want any more information about his past being revealed to the world, but if he said anything it would seem suspicious.

"At first... he was a complete and utter son of a bitch, but... there were a couple of slimmers of hope... of course in the end they disappeared and he went somewhat insane, but I digress," she ended and shrugged.

Tobi narrowed his eyes and remembered all the horrible wounds he had administered to her, and all the torture via Sharingan.

If he had known any of this was going to happen... no, no one could have seen it coming.

"Did he hurt you?" Kisame questioned and she began to chuckle. "If I look hard enough I'm sure I can find a couple of scars to show you, but most of my injuries were in his Sharingan."

Her chuckling ended and she got a far away look in her eye before she suddenly shivered. No doubt she was remembering one of those times she had looked in his eyes.

"Why were you staying with him?" Kisame broke the silence.

A small, wry smile. "I robbed a store, he arrested me and I was his prisoner. Though he only put me in a jail cell for a very short time."

Kisame was going to ask another question, but Tobi sneezed suddenly and then began running around the room screaming, "Tobi's mask is dirty! Tobi's mask is dirty!"

They sweat dropped and Kasumi said, "Well, I guess I have to go now... Tobi probably needs help or something."

The shark man nodded and they left the room. Instantly, Tobi ran for the bathroom and she walked after him calmly.

A few minutes after she made it to the bathroom Tobi had gone in, he came out with his mask on and he yelled, "Tobi's mask is clean!"

She sighed and said, "Congratulations, so we're done meeting all of the Akatsuki's?"

He nodded and said, "Yup! Just in time because it's time for Tobi and Kasumi-chan to sleep!"

"Oh! Right, I forgot I can't tell when it's night or day in this place!" she exclaimed and followed Tobi back to their room.

Luckily, there were two beds in the room so they didn't have to argue over who slept where.

Not that she would mind sleeping in the same bed as Tobi. He didn't seem like the violent, 'rape you in the middle of the night' type so she wouldn't have to be worried about that.

After showering and brushing her teeth, Kasumi went to lie down to sleep, but to her disappointment she simply couldn't.

All she could do was toss and turn uncomfortably in her bed. Tobi seemed to be doing better though, he was out like a light the second his head hit his pillow.

Suddenly, the door to their room flew open and a tall, dark figure walked in.

"_Kasumi_," the deep, velvet voice whispered and her heart all but stopped beating.

"_I have missed you all these years, did you miss me?_" he stepped closer into the room.

Finally, she found her voice and she choked out, "Madara? Is... is that you...?"

He chuckled. "_Who else would it be, my possession?_" His voice seemed to echo around the room and she briefly wondered why Tobi had not woken up.

By now he was at the foot of her bed and she was paralyzed. Whether it was from the fear or his piercing red eyes she didn't know.

"_You gave me quite the scare when you disappeared... but now I can pay you back for it,_" he whispered and leaned closer to her so he was looming over her.

He looked just like she remembered him; tall, strong build, long black hair and deadly blood red eyes.

Before she could do anything, he was holding a kunai to her throat and he said, "_I will be seeing you again tomorrow_."

A long gash was instantly on her throat and everything began fading away.

No... no... she couldn't be dying... not now...

Kasumi's eyes flew open and she looked around the dark room with wide, confused eyes.

Her hands travelled up to her throat and she was shocked to find there was no wound on it.

But... he had just cut her throat... hadn't he?

She shook her head and closed her eyes. It must have been a nightmare.

"Kasumi-chan?" a voice beside her suddenly said and she instinctively jumped away.

"Oh... it's just you Tobi... what is it?" she asked wearily. "Tobi was wondering why Kasumi-chan was awake and holding her throat. Is something wrong?"

"Yes, I'm fine... just a nightmare," she offered him a small, fake smile.

Behind the mask, he smirked. So he had succeeded in making her afraid again.

"When Tobi has nightmares he goes to snuggle with Deidera senpai! Does Kasumi-chan want to snuggle with Tobi?" he asked innocently.

At first she looked like she was going to reject him, but then she sighed and nodded meekly.

His smirk widened and he climbed into her bed quietly. He couldn't wait to tell her in three months that she had willingly let him into her bed.

She would be devastated, crushed and broken.

Yes, his plan was working perfectly.

To be continued...

:) Reviews?


	19. The Final Plea

:) Okay... I thought I would say why I am writing this story... the truth is... I usually write happy crack fics... but for some reason when I tried writing another one, it turned all dark and evil so... I deleted it and decided I needed to get the darkness out of my system. Plus, I really like Madara so... yeah... I know this one isn't very dark compared to many other writers, but I'm doing my best... and I don't want it to be too creepy to read.

Chapter 19- The final plea.

"Mmmmpphhhh!"

"Good morning Kasumi-chan!"

"MMMPPHH!"

Kasumi pushed Tobi away and took several deep breaths. For a while she thought she was actually going to suffocate to death.

"What's wrong? Is Kasumi-chan hurt?" he asked innocently and she gave him a dark glare.

"Oh, no nothing's wrong... I just nearly died because you wouldn't let go of me!" she had started out calmly, but in the end she began screaming.

He chuckled slightly, but she suddenly stiffened and froze. Then she clutched her head and muttered something along the lines of 'damn it, I'm so pathetic'.

When she turned to look back at him she gave him a fake smile and asked, "Is there a training room in the Akatsuki base?"

Tobi narrowed his eyes, so she had finally realized how weak she was. "Yes! Tobi will take you there!"

A few minutes later, they were in a large cave with training dummies and all sorts of weapons. Kasumi took a second to soak up everything around her before walking over to the weapons.

She chose a long katana and she was going to go over to the training dummy when she heard a voice behind her.

"Want a training partner?" Turning around, she saw Itachi standing in the doorway with a katana of his own.

She gave him a smile and nodded. Practicing with Itachi was perfect and she knew he would not go easy on her.

They began in the middle of the cave with a few simple lessons on how to hold the katana, what stance to use and different motions of attack.

After that was done, they began to spar and Kasumi saw just how hard it was. Either she couldn't block his attack, lost grip of her sword, or used the wrong stance and fell.

Another hour of embarrassment passed and she was exhausted. Itachi, on the other hand, looked like he hadn't even lifted a finger.

"Thank you for that... experience...," she said with a lopsided grin on her face.

He nodded and left to go do a couple of errands, thus leaving her and Tobi alone in the large cave.

"Kasumi-chan got beaten by Itachi-meanie-san! Nooooo!" he yelled and she chuckled.

Then she put her katana back in the place she had found it and made her way to the main battle ground.

Tobi gave her a curious glance and she said, "I've realized I have two main weaknesses. Strength and speed. I doubt I will be able to get strong enough within three months, but speed is something I can work on."

After stretching a bit she continued, "If I get as fast as Itachi I might stand some sort of chance. In escaping at least."

After taking one last deep breath, she began running laps around the cave. Sure it was a slow way to start, but if she kept running and running every day, eventually she would be faster.

He sat down in a nearby seat and watched her run intently. She would never be able to catch up to him in strength, but she was correct to try and improve her speed.

These would be a very interesting three months.

...

"Goodnight Tobi!" Kasumi said and closed her eyes to get some much needed sleep.

Tobi jumped into his bed and yelled, "Goodnight Kasumi-chan!"

She chuckled and the room fell silent. The sooner she got to sleep the better because she planned to do the same training schedule the next day.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew and she shivered. She reached to grip her covers tighter, but she gasped and opened her eyes when she realized they were gone.

Impossible! She had just been covered with them!

Looking to the door, she saw a dark figure standing there and she frowned.

"What's this? Another nightmare? Go ahead, kill me and let me get back to sleep," she grumbled and glared him right in the eyes.

She simply didn't have the energy to deal with this right now.

"What makes you think this is a nightmare?" Madara questioned and she chuckled. "You wouldn't show yourself to me now and plus your just a figment of my imagination."

He frowned and stepped closer to her. "If I was really your imagination... don't you think this wouldn't leave a mark?"

Then he pulled out a dagger and stabbed her in the arm. She grit her teeth through the pain and said, "It won't... I'm going to wake up any second now."

A cruel smirk formed on his lips and he said, "Sure you are."

Just like that, he was gone and she was alone in the room. She glanced at the wound and narrowed her eyes when she didn't wake up.

But... it was all a dream... she had to wake up.

"Kasumi-chan! What happened!" Tobi yelled suddenly and startled her out of her trance.

"Nothing, it was just another nightmare," she said and he continued, "Then how did you get that injury?"

She froze and stared at him before looking down at her arm.

No... that can't be... it was a dream... right?

Tobi rushed over to her and began inspecting the wound before he said, "Tobi will help Kasumi-chan!"

He pulled her into the bathroom and after cleaning the wound he bandaged it.

During the entire time, she hadn't made a single sound and she looked like she was in a deep, deep trance.

Finally, she muttered, "No... it... it was a dream... why am I hurt?"

Behind his mask, he smirked and prided himself on his success. It had been hard, but he had gotten a clone to look like his old self and attack her.

"Tobi doesn't know, but who hurt Kasumi-chan in her dream?" he acted innocent.

She narrowed her eyes and said, "Madara. Who else is there?"

He gasped and yelled, "Madara is here! He came here and hurt Kasumi-chan! Nooo Tobi couldn't protect Kasumi-chan! Next time he will protect Kasumi-chan! He will! He will!"

She smiled at his childish antics and said, "Thank you Tobi, that makes me feel much better."

Then they went back out into the bedroom and Tobi convinced Kasumi to sleep in his bed for the night.

The next day she went to the training room and Itachi was already there. "Ready for a re-match?" he questioned and she grabbed her katana before announcing, "Anytime, anywhere!"

They began slowly, but as things got faster she found she was restricted by the injury she had sustained that night.

Itachi seemed to notice too because he asked, "Are you hurt?"

She gave him a small smile and said, "It's just a simple stab wound, nothing to worry about."

He didn't seem to accept that and he demanded to see the wound. As he inspected it he asked her how she had gotten it and she reluctantly admitted, "I thought it was another nightmare, but this time he really came into my room and stabbed me."

"Who stabbed you?" he pressured and after a pause, she whispered, "Madara."

The large cave went silent until Itachi changed the subject by saying, "Let's get back to training."

After a couple of hours of sparring, Itachi left and Kasumi ran laps for the rest of the day.

Her muscles hurt from the previous day, but she knew she couldn't make any excuses.

If she got a mission any time soon she wouldn't be able to train, so she had to use all the time she could get.

Tobi came to watch her half way through her run, but he had been listening in on her conversation with Itachi right from the start.

By the time she was done she was completely exhausted and she said, "Tobi, how long do you think I have to run before I really begin to improve?"

He wanted to tell her the statistically correct number he had memorised, but instead he said, "Tobi doesn't know! Tobi never counted how long he ran."

She nodded and looked away. Of course Tobi had been training before, how else would he be so insanely fast?

...

"Yes! In your face Itachi!" Kasumi yelled as she stared at the tiny cut in his sleeve.

"It took a month of non-stop training, but I did it! I finally cut you!" she continued and began jumping up and down happily.

Though he didn't show it, Itachi was happy for her as well. He had seen her running laps and gradually getting faster and he begrudgingly wanted her to improve.

"Good, now your training with me is over, Kisame will take over from now on," he said and her face changed into a look of confusion, then sadness and finally horror.

"You... you want me to train with... Kisame?" she whispered as she remembered his giant sword and the fact that he towered a head and a half over her.

At least Itachi was her height!

He nodded, "You have trained your speed and now you need to improve your strength."

She seemed to accept that for a second, but then she asked, "Wait... Itachi, I never got to ask you why you started helping me in the first place. Surely you had better things to do than watch me pathetically struggle for a month."

The Uchiha patted her shoulder and said, "Before you came, I was worried about who would have the job of getting rid of Madara. I could never do it because I have to deal with Sasuke, but you can."

Her eyes widened and he leaned in closer to whisper, "You have to kill Madara, and save us all... or he will take over the world and we will be doomed."

Then just like that, he was gone... and Kasumi never saw him again.

That day, Uchiha Itachi died at the hands of his brother.

...

Tobi walked into his and Kasumi's room with an annoyed sigh.

Itachi had left him a dying present and when he tried to show his face to Sasuke he ended up getting burned by Amaterasu.

In short, he wasn't in the best mood to have to pretend being all cheerful and happy.

A few minutes later, Kasumi walked into their room and whispered, "Itachi is dead."

Then she flopped down on one of the beds and said, "Another death caused by Madara... if he hadn't tried to kill the clan, Sasuke would have never come after Itachi and he would still be alive."

He looked at her, but found it hard to try and comfort her when he knew she was right. However, none of that mattered, she already hated him and another reason wasn't going to change anything.

She would still be his in two months and the world would follow suit shortly after.

The rest of the day passed solemnly and in the evening everyone gathered in Itachi's room to say their goodbyes.

The Uchiha may have been quiet and occasionally rude, but everyone still liked his clam, poised presence.

Out of everyone there, Kasumi and Kisame looked the saddest, but neither of them shed a tear.

Itachi wouldn't have wanted that.

...

"I'm going to tell you this now and now only. I am frustrated about Itachi's death and I am going to take it out on you," Kisame warned as he stood a couple of feet in front of her.

Kasumi smirked and replied, "Bring it on, and I'll show you just how much I've improved."

He ran at her with a loud battle cry and she jumped out of the way to avoid the blow. She knew if she got hit even once by his weapon she would be in big trouble.

Luckily, her speed had improved greatly over the last month and she had little trouble parrying any of his blows.

However, landing a hit on him was much, much harder.

Whenever she got close enough to even try and hit him, he swung that ridiculously large sword at her within the second.

How he did that was a mystery she would never solve.

Once again, she had to jump out of the way as another hit was directed at her.

An hour passed, and then another, but still neither of them was getting anywhere.

Kisame was trying to smash his sword down on her, yet just as he thought he had her, she jumped out of the way.

At first, Kasumi had just tried to avoid getting hit, but then she began trying to hit him.

So far, every single attempt had failed and she was starting to get tired. This training was much harder on her than Itachi's.

With Itachi, she had to constantly be on the move, like with Kisame, but the difference was that if Kisame hit her she would be down for good, whereas Itachi stopped right before he hit her and she was unharmed.

Another hour passed and at the end of it they were both breathing hard and at the brink of exhaustion.

Just as he was going to charge at her again, Tobi ran into the room and yelled, "Tobi made cookies for everyone!"

...Before proceeding to chuck black, burned cookies at them.

Kasumi quickly ran out of the way and out through a back door. Over the month she had learned perfectly well that when Tobi made 'cookies' it was just a metaphor for baked shuriken and kunai covered in dough.

Then, she quickly made her way to the kitchen and confiscated any other cookies Tobi might decide to throw at unsuspecting victims.

As she was leaving with a bucket full of the black abominations, Konan walked into the kitchen and gave her a long curious stare.

"Oh... um... this isn't what it looks like," Kasumi offered when the blue haired woman raised an eye brow at the bucket.

Konan shook her head and said, "A month ago, I warned you to stay away from Tobi, and I am warning you again. He is nothing but trouble and you will regret it in the end."

Then she quickly turned around and left the kitchen before any questions could be asked.

Kasumi furrowed her brow, but pushed the warning out of her mind. Tobi was her friend and what did Konan mean by 'end'?

Shaking her head, she walked out of the kitchen to go hide the cookies. Sure everyone in the base, except her, was an S-Ranked criminal, but no one expected to be pelted by sharp, crispy cookies.

When she came back into the kitchen, Tobi was running around in circles screaming, "Tobi's cookies came to life and ran away!"

She sighed in relief and pulled out a sandwich she had prepared earlier to eat.

Suddenly, Tobi fell silent and began to stare at the very appetizing salami, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, cheese, pickle and ketchup sandwich.

Kasumi took a huge bite out of it, but stopped chewing when Tobi stood right in front of her and screeched, "Tobi wants a bite!"

She shuddered at the high pitch intensity at his voice and with a glare, she cut a piece off and gave it to him.

He turned around, lifted up his mask and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth before putting his mask down and turning around again.

"Yummy!" he exclaimed before ripping the rest of the sandwich out of her hands and running out of the kitchen.

Her mouth hung open for a second before she jumped out of her chair and ran after Tobi at break neck speed.

She was hungry and she was going to get her sandwich back even if it was the last thing she did.

Tobi darted down the hall like a bullet and Kasumi was right there behind him. At first she didn't think much of it, but then she remembered that a month a go she was unable to keep up.

With a grin, she increased her pace on her mission to save her food.

He too increased his pace as he got closer and closer to his destination. Of course he didn't just steal the sandwich for the fun of it.

Turning a sharp corner, he ran into the largest cave in the base and suddenly began to scream, "Kasumi-chan! Help!"

She ran into the cave and she saw Madara with a blood thirsty grin on his face, holding a kunai to Tobi's throat.

"_Hello Kasumi, we need to talk_."

To be continued...

:) Any thoughts?


	20. The Night Attack

:) Yeah! Lucky number 20!

Chapter 20- The night attack.

She ran into the cave and she saw Madara with a blood thirsty grin on his face, holding a kunai to Tobi's throat.

"_Hello Kasumi, we need to talk_."

All her thoughts disappeared and she could only stare helplessly as her friend was in grave danger.

"Madara, let Tobi go... he has nothing to do with this," she said when she finally found her voice again.

He chuckled. "Alright, but don't you think you've gotten a little too attached to this vermin?"

She narrowed her eyes and managed to retort, "Why? Are you jealous?"

Again, he chuckled, but this time he let go of Tobi and pushed him to the side roughly, thus making him fall onto the ground.

He didn't move and Kasumi began to worry as she said, "Why isn't he moving? What did you do?"

"Nothing, but I want this to be just me and you... no little rats to listen in," he started walking toward her and it took her all of her confidence not to back away.

When he was standing right in front of her, he put his hand on her chin to make her look up at him and said, "Do you know how long I looked for you after you disappeared?"

"Looked for me so you could kill me of course," she added and she couldn't help but wince when he pulled her forward by her chin.

"I do not want to kill you. Danzo is not on my side," he explained and out of sheer reflex she said, "You're lying, you're always lying!"

He glared down at her and sneered, "You think I would want my brother dead?"

She faltered for a bit, but then whispered, "I don't know, but I do know this. I can never believe anything you say, so why don't you finish up with your fake little speech and then abandon your plans of world domination?"

"I would never give up, and if you think you can kill me in two months and save the world like that puppet Itachi wanted you to, you are wrong. Very, very wrong," he said and he pulled her forward for a forced kiss, but with her newly gained speed she was able to push his hand away and jump back a couple of feet.

"Two months? Why so specific?" she acted innocent and he chuckled before he replied, "Don't play stupid, I know that deal you made with Pein."

Her eyes widened and she was going to ask him something else, but then he was gone.

For a second she just stared at the space he had been, however she quickly remembered about Tobi and rushed over to his side.

"Tobi, Tobi, are you okay?" she tried to shake him awake.

"Tobi's head hurts!" Tobi whined quietly and Kasumi sighed with relief.

Then she frowned and said, "I am still too weak... I should have attacked him or... or... maybe threatened him. Gah! I'm so stupid!"

He looked at her and out of curiosity he asked, "What would Kasumi-chan do if he came back?"

She was silent for a moment and then she answered, "I would ask him why he killed his own clan... and then I would try to stab him, but that doesn't matter, he's gone and he knows just how weak I am."

Trying to stay in character, he said, "Tobi thinks Madara will come back! Madara seems to like Kasumi-chan!"

For a second she looked like she swallowed her tongue, but then she answered, "No, I don't think so. If he liked me he wouldn't have done all the things he did eighty years ago... and he certainly wouldn't try to hide from me like this."

He wanted to correct her and explain his reasoning, but he just bit his tongue, rubbed his head and pretended to be hurt.

Whether she got the message he was sending or not, clones were very useful when you're trying to fool people of your identity.

...

Kasumi grit her teeth when the full force of Kisame's heavy sword fell onto her own small one.

However, she couldn't hesitate and she pushed herself up to push it aside and attack Kisame.

He saw this coming and he jumped back a couple of feet before once again swinging his weapon at her.

This little cycle continued for about another hour until both partners agreed they had enough training for the day and went their separate ways.

Kasumi stayed in the training room and ran laps, while Kisame went off on another mission.

This was the first time this month she had time to run laps. She usually only had enough time to spar with Kisame for a bit because for some reason the day after Madara's visit she got a ton of missions.

One mission came after the other and they got harder each time.

Tobi came into the training room and yelled, "Kasumi-chan! Leader-sama gave us another mission!"

She resisted the urge to groan, but quickly took a shower and got ready for the mission. Something told her this one was going to be very important.

Possibly more important than all the other ones.

Tobi, Deidera and Kasumi walked into the leader's room and he was already there, waiting at the desk.

"Your mission today is to find out what Konoha official Danzo is doing. Konan has found he has been up to some strange activities lately and I want you to check it out," he said and then waved them out of the room.

This time they were lucky, this mission should only take them a couple of days.

They set off immediately and they barely stopped for any breaks. In information gathering missions, every second counted because every second their target was saying things they wouldn't be able to hear from here.

By evening they were at Konoha, but they were completely exhausted.

"Tobi's feet hurt!" Tobi complained and the other two members of the group ignored him, while internally complaining about how much their feet hurt too.

"Tobi, I know something that will cheer you up," Kasumi began and when Tobi began to stare at her intently she finished, "Leader-sama gave us money to sleep in a hotel!"

He instantly began jumping up and down, and even Deidera couldn't resist smiling. Tobi may be annoying, but he was also very good stress relief.

A few minutes later they were standing in their hotel room and all they could do was stare in awe.

There were three luxury beds, a large bathroom the size of their room back in the base, and on a table in the kitchen there was a large basket filled with chocolaty treats.

"This... is... heaven," Deidera broke the silence and instantly everyone snapped out of their trance and rushed at the treats.

They had eaten almost nothing the entire day and they seriously needed some food in their systems.

Seconds later, they were lying on their beds with their hands on their stomachs and grins on their faces.

"No Deidera... _that_ was heaven," Kasumi said and they chuckled. Those must have been the most delicious treats they had ever eaten in their lives.

Suddenly, Tobi felt an extreme killer aura somewhere near their room and he said, "Tobi has to do something! He will be back in a second!"

Neither partner gave this any thought and he left to go into the hallway to investigate. Even though he had to act like a weakling in front of Kasumi and Deidera, he didn't have to do that if he had to eliminate any threats.

"So you're the strongest out of the bunch?" a male voice said at the dark end of the hallway and he activated his Sharingan to see who it was.

"Danzo... what are you doing here?" he demanded and he didn't even bother changing his voice.

"So the saying is true, the higher you climb the harder you fall. Isn't that right, Madara? Or should I say, Tobi?" Danzo taunted and Madara narrowed his eyes at him.

"Answer me," he pressured and Danzo just did a hand symbol and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He punched the wall beside him and muttered, "Damn it", before going back to the hotel room.

His eyes narrowed further and a deep frown formed on his face when he saw the room was empty and the windows were open.

He should have known, Danzo was only a distraction so he wouldn't notice as they were kidnapped.

Not only that though, there was blood on the bed Kasumi had been lying on and he cursed loudly before jumping out the window in pursuit of the people who took his partners.

No one was taking Kasumi away from him.

...

Kasumi shot through the forest and avoided the barrage of kunai being thrown at her.

She didn't know where Deidera was, but she knew he was not safe. The second Tobi had left, a group of ninja jumped through the windows and tried to grab them.

Deidera had been easily grabbed, but she had been able to jump out of their way and out the window.

However, she wasn't completely lucky because on her way out, one of the ninja had cut her on the arm.

Suddenly, another group of ninja was standing in a clearing in front of her and she had no where to go.

Kasumi frowned and quickly did the seals for the Ice Claw Jutsu. A few of the ninja's looked surprised to see the jutsu.

So Itachi hadn't been lying, she was the last survivor of her clan.

Taking advantage of their surprise, she ran at the ninja closest to her and used the Ice Claws to slash them down.

It worked for the first five, but there were still ten ninja left and they looked like they wouldn't go down so easy.

She made the Ice Claws disintegrate and she quickly drew her katana. Time to put her training to good use.

Much to her dismay, the ninja were all very slow and it took her nearly no effort to cut them down.

So her training with Itachi and Kisame had paid of after all.

A few seconds later, she was standing in the clearing surrounded by bloody bodies, holding a bloody sword.

She shuddered, but wiped her blade clean before running back in the direction she had last seen Deidera. She needed to save her partner.

Along the way, she ran into a very strange acting Tobi. He didn't greet her happily, but he just gave her a serious nod and continued to run.

Tobi was deeply engrossed in his thoughts, he was pleased Kasumi had managed to fight the ninja off, but he still felt stupid for being so easily tricked by Danzo.

"Tobi, do you know where we are going?" she asked when she realized she had no idea where Deidera's chakra had gone.

He paused for a while to make sure he could pull off his Tobi voice and said, "Tobi knows where to go! Trust Tobi!"

She had no problems with that and they continued to run for another few minutes.

Finally, they came upon a small, rundown house and Tobi ran in without any hesitation.

Kasumi followed a few seconds after, but she was cautious enough to check for traps.

Tobi dashed down the stairs and even though he saw the traps, he simply ran through them. His speed was no match for their pathetic snares.

She watched in quiet awe as not a single trap came close to hitting him. So he had been holding back in the Akatsuki base.

If she had tried running after him when he was going to this pace, she would easily fall behind.

The same went in reverse and she made a quick mental note never to play tag with him.

Getting her head back in the task at hand, she ran after him and she drew her sword in case anyone jumped out to attack her.

When she ran into the room he had gone in, Deidera was staring at Tobi with wide eyes.

"Tobi, un, I didn't know you could do that," he said and Kasumi took that time to look around the room.

Her eyes widened when she saw bloody bodies all around the room.

When had he...?

Tobi sighed, shook his head and then fearfully asked, "Deidera senpai! What happened? Why are there bloody bodies everywhere? Where is Tobi?"

Deidera and Kasumi exchanged confused glances and the blond cautiously stated, "Tobi... you did this... you don't remember?"

He shook his head again and then in a dejected tone said, "Tobi did this? Tobi doesn't want to hurt people... Tobi is sorry!"

Kasumi hesitated for a second before changing the subject by saying, "Deidera, do you know why they tried to kidnap us?"

The blond furrowed his brow before shrugging and saying, "I guess they realized we were Akatsuki members and decided to try and kill us."

She seemed to accept that and behind his mask, Tobi smirked. That had been a great stress reliever.

He hadn't committed mass murder in a while and he needed to get it out of his system. Even better, he was able to pretend he had some sort of split personality that liked to kill people.

"Tobi thinks Kasumi-chan and Deidera senpai should leave this place! It's scary!" he broke the silence and they nodded before making their way out of the room.

"Tobi, Kasumi, we have to go back to the Akatsuki base because I know security will be extra tight now that they know we are here," Deidera offered rationally and they agreed.

There was no way they could complete the intelligence gathering mission now.

As they headed back, they had to hide their chakra's several times when Konoha ninja scouts passed by in search of them.

The rest of the journey went silently and each of the ninja was deep within their thoughts.

Tobi was thinking what he would do now that Danzo knew of his identity. For sure, he knew he had to keep Kasumi away from him or his identity would be blown and his plan ruined.

He absolutely refused to let that bastard ruin any more of his plans.

Deidera was thinking about how mad leader-sama would be when they came back, but at least they had killed off come Konoha ninja.

That was always a good thing.

Kasumi, on the other hand, was thinking about how strangely the night had gone by. She had managed to kill fifteen ninja with ease and judging from their green vests, they had been Jounin.

But... how was that possible? Had she really improved that much over the last two months?

She really hoped so, she only had a month left before her final show down with Madara and she didn't know if he would pay her any visits in between.

Narrowing her eyes, she realized she was still too slow.

Madara had eighty years to keep improving his speed and he was probably capable of turning into a blur as he ran. No... He had no reason to. He could probably still teleport like before.

Her eyes narrowed further and she realized just how little hope there was for her to get anywhere with him in battle.

No matter how fast she got, he could simply teleport behind her and with one blow kill her.

Deidera noticed her angry facial expression and he asked, "Kasumi, un, is everything alright?"

She shook her head and gave him a fake smile. "Yes, of course, I was just thinking."

He didn't pry any further, but after a few minutes of silence she said, "Deidera, what would you do if you had to fight Pein in a month?"

At first he just raised an eye brow at her, yet he seriously assessed the question and answered, "I would run, Pein is too strong for me to handle and I would only make a fool of myself."

Kasumi didn't look pleased with his answer so she continued, "What if Pein killed everyone you cared about and then tried to force himself on you. Wouldn't that be enough motive to attack him?"

He looked a bit horrified at the 'force himself on you' part, but he furrowed his brow and tried to think about the question deeper.

Finally, he said, "If he did do that, I would want to fight him to the death, but it would not be the smartest choice. If I was able to think clearly, I would take time to find out his weaknesses and wait for the perfect time to attack. Not exactly one month... it would have to be the time that suited me best."

She nodded and then cheerfully said, "Thanks Deidera! That's a great idea!"

"Wait... you have to fight Pein?" he asked out of curiosity and she scoffed.

"I wish, if I had to fight Pein I would be the happiest person in the world!"

Tobi watched the conversation with mild interest, so Kasumi was re-thinking her strategy of how to fight him.

It didn't matter though, she was too weak to even land a hit on him and anything she did he could easily counter.

He had already thought about any possible scenario and in each one he came out victorious.

However, there was one little problem with his plan. What would he do after he suppressed her?

Of course he wanted to just kiss her and make her completely his, but over the years he had learned that was not the smartest thing to do.

If only he had known that eighty years ago.

To be continued...

Only one more month before it's Madara vs. Kasumi! Ironically, it's a month before the first day of school.

Truth be told, I had planned the plot out before I began the story, but after the time jump everything veered of the path and I have to say, I like where it is going.

Reviews? :)


	21. The Green Thing

Something tells me this chapter is going to be interesting. Strange though, the page looks empty as I type this.

Chapter 20- The green thing.

"Leader-sama, we have returned from our mission," Kasumi said, but didn't look up into the orange haired man's eyes.

"Why so early?" he demanded and narrowed his eyes when he saw the cut on her arm and the multiple blood splatters on Tobi's cloak.

Deidera piped in, "We were attacked by Konoha ninja in the hotel room, but we killed every single one of them for it."

Tobi saw small smirk form on Pein's face and he said, "Alright, as long as they are dead I am happy, now go."

They quickly left the room and when they were a good distance away, Kasumi and Deidera gave each other high five's.

"I told you rehearsing what we were going to say was a good idea," Deidera stated with a smile and she chuckled before saying, "Yes, that was a great idea. I can't believe he let us go after you said we killed people."

"This is the Akatsuki, you kill people and leader is happy," he said with a shrug and they chuckled for a few seconds.

When they came to the blond's room they said they goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Tobi walked into their room first and he pretended to be tired as he said, "Tobi wants to sleep! Does Kasumi-chan want to sleep too?"

She gave him another one of her brilliant smiled and said, "Of course! Now let's go to sleep right away because we might get another mission tomorrow."

He shook his head and explained, "Nope! That was out last mission! We get missions every two months so all of next month we get to relax and stay at base!"

Her eyes lit up and she cheered, "Yes! Now I can go back to training! I don't care if there is no hope for me... I have to at least be able to escape!"

This month she was hoping to improve her speed a bit more and learn a couple of new jutsu. Not attacking or defending jutsu's, but teleportation jutsu's.

If she was going to go against Madara she needed to have some sort of escape plan.

Then another idea came into her head. She had been thinking of her battle with Madara too strategically, she needed to ask someone who wasn't so serious what they would do.

"Hey Tobi, what would you do if you had to fight Madara in a month?"

He narrowed his eyes and thought for a second on a reasonable Tobi-like answer before he said, "Tobi would scream at Madara until he got bored and left!"

She raised an eyebrow at him before she hesitantly asked, "You... you would _scream_ at Madara? And... You think that would work?"

"Yup! Tobi knows it would work because Tobi can scream really loudly," he answered matter of factly.

Kasumi simply shook her head and went to lie down. Maybe Tobi wasn't the right person to ask.

The next day, she got up really early to go run laps and a couple of hours after she did that, Kisame showed up in the training room.

"You're already here? Wow, you must be really committed to this whole 'kill Madara' thing," he said as he walked closer to her.

She shook her head and corrected, "No, I am really committed to the 'meet Madara in a month and survive the encounter' thing."

He lifted his sword off his back and said, "So, are we going to do this or what?"

Smirking, she ran at him and he realized he was having a harder time keeping up with her blows. So she was improving even more.

Maybe in the end, she would stand a chance against Madara.

...

"Kasumi-chan, why are you pacing around the room so much?" Tobi asked and she sighed loudly.

"It's already a week before... that day... and I feel I haven't been doing enough to get stronger," she closed her eyes and buried her head in her hands.

Tobi resisted the urge to sigh as he realized just how wrong she was. For the past three weeks she had been working herself to the bone.

Getting up early to run laps, training with Kisame, practicing her jutsu, training with random Akatsuki members and then running more laps.

She had even managed to convince Pein to spar with her for a bit. Surprisingly, she had been able to keep up and even land a few hits on him.

Still, she was not pleased with her progress and now she was starting to seriously worry about the day she got to meet him.

"Kasumi-chan, Tobi thinks you should go to sleep and relax! One of the most important things about a battle is to be level headed and Kasumi-chan is too excited now," he warned and he was pleased when she sat down on her bed and closed her eyes.

"Yes... Tobi you're right... thank you... goodnight I guess," she climbed under the covers and forced herself to sleep by focusing chakra in the sides of her head.

Recently she hadn't been able to get to sleep for hours, so in the end she gave up and used chakra to get herself asleep.

It was originally a technique used in interrogation to make people not remember anything that was done to them and Tobi knew that perfectly well.

The second he was sure she was in a deep sleep, he slipped into her bed and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She wouldn't remember any of this anyway.

In the middle of the night, Tobi woke up because Kasumi seemed to be struggling in his arms.

She looked like she was still asleep, but she was tossing, turning and muttering something.

"... No... go away...leave me alone... no... Madara..."

He narrowed his eyes at her sleeping form when he realized she was having a nightmare about him.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she instinctively reached over to the side of the bed, where she kept her katana.

When she saw Tobi was in her bed her eyes widened and she mumbled, "Tobi... what... what are you doing in... my bed?"

At first he was going to speak in his Tobi voice, but then he remembered she was still under the effects of the chakra she had used to force herself to sleep.

So, in his natural voice he whispered, "Shh... Kasumi... sleep... everything is going to be alright... just close your eyes and go to sleep."

She looked up at him and asked, "Madara? You... you're here? Are you going to kill me?"

"No... I am never going to kill you, my precious, precious possession," he said and pulled her in closer.

Kasumi didn't resist and fell asleep again. If only she would react like this six days from now.

The next morning, she woke up with a start and gasped when she remembered the most bizarre dream ever.

In it, Madara had tried to kill her, but then she was back in her bed and he promised he would never kill her.

She frowned at the contradiction and pushed the thought out of her mind so she could go and train.

There were six days before that day, which meant she had five days left to train. She wanted to spend the last day getting energy and resting.

As usual, she ran laps first and then trained with Kisame before practicing a few new jutsu she had learned.

When that was all done, she chuckled and went to go find her challenger for the day. Pein was obviously never going spar with her again, Kisame was all worn out, Deidera was still mad at her from the time she accidentally cut off his hair, Tobi was too hyper, Kakuzu didn't care, Hidan would insist on fighting until he actually did kill her and Zetsu... was Zetsu.

So... that left Konan.

"Konan! Where are you? I need a training partner and we've never trained together before!" Kasumi yelled as she walked along the Akatsuki base halls.

For a second she wondered if the blue haired woman was hiding from her, but then she walked out of a room and stood in the hallway.

"There you are! So... I was wondering if you wanted to train," Kasumi said sheepishly when she saw the intent stare being cast at her.

"I'm sorry, but I have a mission to go on. However, I have to warn you one last time before it's too late. Stay away from Tobi, he will only cause you grief," Konan said and before Kasumi could ask, there was a puff of smoke and she was gone.

Stay away from Tobi? But why? He had been her friend for almost three months now and she trusted him.

Shaking her head, she began walking in the direction of Hidan's room. Might as well decapitate him as some training.

...

"Okay... today I have to rest and relax... rest and relax," Kasumi tried to pound in her head as she resisted the urge to run into the training room and practice.

"If Kasumi-chan needs someone to help her relax, Tobi can be that someone," he offered with a hidden smirk.

He wanted to spend her last free day with her before he brutally informed her she had been with him the entire time.

"Aww, thanks Tobi! I would love that," she said and grinned at him. "So, what did you have in mind?"

"Tobi wanted to play tag!" he announced and instantly a red flag went off in her head. Hadn't she made a mental note never to play tag with him?

She thought it over for a couple of seconds before she nodded and yelled, "You're it!" before dashing down the hallway.

He ran after her and he was surprised she was not making it easy for him. Just when he thought he had her, she turned into a blur and he was far away from her again.

Perhaps he should have paid more attention to how she was training.

No, there was no need for that. Even if she ran faster than him, he could still teleport and capture her.

He increased his pace and she chuckled as once again he failed to catch her.

"Are you ready to give up yet?" she taunted as he got closer.

"Nope! Tobi is going to catch Kasumi-chan and win the prize!" he announced and she didn't even slow down as she asked, "What's the prize?"

"If Kasumi-chan wins, Tobi will make her cookies and if Tobi wins, Kasumi-chan will make him cookies!" he explained and she agreed to the terms.

Either way, they were getting cookies. Hopefully real ones... not baked shuriken.

Half an hour later, when Tobi still had not caught her, he decided to put his plentiful chakra to use and catch her once and for all.

She instantly realized when he began using more chakra and she too began running faster.

They were so caught up in their game that they didn't notice when poor, still somewhat decapitated Hidan began walking down the hallway toward them.

_Smack!_

"Ow! Shit! My arm fell of again!"

"Tobi caught Kasumi-chan!"

"Tobi... I... can't breathe..."

Hidan staggered up from the ground, picked his arm up, swore at them loudly and then left.

Meanwhile, Kasumi was turning blue because the second she collided with Hidan, Tobi grabbed her by the waist so tightly all the air got knocked out of her.

He seemed to finally realize this because he let go of her and she took several deep breaths to calm herself down.

Now running into Hidan was something neither of them expected to do today.

"Kasumi-chan has to go make Tobi cookies now!" he reminded her and she gave him a dirty look before she began walking toward the kitchen.

She hadn't the slightest idea how to make cookies, but she was sure hers would be better than Tobi's.

Half an hour later a distinct 'bing' echoed through the Akatsuki base and Tobi ran into the kitchen a split second after it.

"Cookies! Cookies! Kasumi-chan's cookies are ready!" he yelled as she pulled the cookies out of the oven.

They were her attempt at double chocolate chip cookies, but in reality they looked like her attempt to kill Tobi.

The poor cookies had somehow turned into large, bumpy brown things that resembled a really nasty turd.

Tobi, however, seemed to like them as he devoured half of the tray within the minute. She took a deep breath and reached for one of the cookies.

If he wasn't having any trouble with them, neither should she. But then again, Tobi had no problem eating burned rice and raw beef so...

"Tobi likes Kasumi-chan's cookies! Does Kasumi-chan like the cookies?" he questioned even though he could clearly see the answer form her sick looking facial expression.

"They are... special... but err... Tobi, you can have the rest," she said at last and he finished the tray off for her.

He would rather eat her cookies than his any day.

"So, what do you think we should do for the rest of the day?" she asked and he replied, "Go play in Orochimaru-creepy-snake-rape-man's room!"

At first she looked like she was totally going to shun the idea, but then her face lit up and she whole heartedly agreed.

They quickly made it to Orochimaru's old, abandoned room that no one ever dared approach because something might eat them alive in there.

Tobi quietly opened the door and reached to turn the light on, but tensed when he pulled on something slimy that fell on him.

Meanwhile, Kasumi had found the actual light switch and turned it on.

When she saw what was lying on Tobi, she put a hand on her mouth and resisted the urge to puke violently.

Tobi looked at the slimy thing and even he, the great Uchiha Madara, wanted to scream like a girl and run away.

It was the rotten, naked, really disgusting shell of Orochimaru's old body and its legs were spread right in front of his face so he was staring at his butt.

Several things happened right away, Kasumi found a bucket to puke in, but then proceeded to stab the insides of the bucket that were trying to jump up at her face, Tobi pushed Orochimaru's shell away from him, but the force made something green shoot out of his butt and onto his mask.

He had to resist the urge to rip his mask off and set it on fire the second he took a breath because that green stuff really did smell soooo bad.

At that moment, Kasumi prepared to take one last stab at the living contents of the bucket, but tripped over Orochimaru's shell and fell right on his counter.

Immediately, ropes shot out of the counter and tied her down to it, while she continued to struggle.

Tobi was having problems of his own, that green thing on his mask refused to come off and the thought he was going to die of suffocation.

He saw a towel lying on one of the counters and picked it up, but much to his dismay, it latched onto his arm and began gripping for all it was worth.

Kasumi saw his dilemma, but she was having bigger problems as something worm like crawled out of a crack in the wall and began advancing toward her.

She continued to struggle, but with no avail so she took a deep breath and at the top of her lungs screamed 'help!'

In the meantime, Tobi was wrestling with his own arm, but unfortunately he too tripped over Orochimaru's body and landed right on top of Kasumi.

Though one good thing did come out of it, the arm with the freaky living towel ended up smashing onto the counter right where the worm like thing was, thus killing both of them.

Now they only had two problems: Kasumi was tied to the counter and Tobi still had that smelly green thing on his mask.

"What the fuck is going on?" Hidan demanded as he stepped through the doorway. When he saw Orochimaru's body face up, he looked away and yelled, "Orochimaru has a penis!"

Somehow that got the attention of all the other Akatsuki members and they magically showed up in the room to see.

Finally, Deidera noticed Kasumi and Tobi needed help so he said, "Tobi, un, what's that green thing on your mask?"

He would have said something, but he was determined to hold his breath until it was safe to breathe so Kasumi replied for him, "Orochimaru's excrements."

Everyone seemed to puke a little in their mouths and quickly left. She gasped and yelled, "Wait! No! You can't just leave us here! We need help!"

No one seemed to care so as a last resort she yelled, "Orochimaru has a vagina!"

Still, no one came in to help them so she said, "Tobi, maybe you should get off me, untie me and then I can try to get that green thing off your mask."

He was still holding his breath as he did as he was asked and Kasumi quickly began trying to help him.

It didn't want to come off, so she managed to get her hands on a torch before she said, "You know the saying fight fire with fire? Well, we're going to fight crap with fire!"

Then, before he could do anything she turned the device on and began to burn away the green thing.

At first it didn't seem to work, but then it _really_ didn't seem to work as the thing swelled up, turned white and made a very anti-climatic miniature farting noise before it fell of Tobi's mask and he took a much needed breath.

However, the results were devastating because the gas was breathed in by Kasumi and it was indeed so bad that it made her pass out right then and there.

He was able to catch her and after he did, he quickly left the room.

His eyes were narrowed as he made a mental note to someday set that room on fire and then blow it up.

To be continued...

Wow... Orochimaru's room was much more exciting than I imagined.

Any thoughts?


	22. The Fake Jutsu

Orochimaru's old room made me re-think how I'm going to write this chapter... hmm... ironically, this isn't the first time my plot has gone hay wire because of Orochimaru...

Chapter 22- The fake jutsu.

Today... what was today?

Kasumi furrowed her brow as she tried to remember what had happened.

Orochimaru's room... the green thing... oh... she passed out.

She opened her eyes to look around the room and she was somewhat pleased to see she was back in her and Tobi's room.

Stretching, she swung her feet off her bed to get up. She looked down to look for her shoes, but she froze when she saw a rug under her feet. But not just any rug...

No... today...today was...oh no... he was already here.

She instantly reached over to grab her katana, but she was surprised to find it was not there.

"Looking for this?" a deep, velvet voice said behind her and her heart skipped a beat. He was here... right here...

After steeling her resolve, she turned around to glare at Madara. She furrowed her brow and said, "Tobi? Why are you holding my katana?"

Suspicion was creeping into her brain, but it was subdued by the confusion.

He activated his Sharingan and mocked, "Oh please, just call me Madara."

Everything in her body froze as all the pieces of the puzzle violently snapped together in her head.

"Madara... you... you've been here the entire time?" she whispered as everything finally made sense.

Why Konan kept warning her, why he had been able to run so fast, why she felt he was always ten steps ahead of her...why the chakra was identical...

"Yes, but you really did like Tobi, _didn't you, Kasumi-chan?_" he said the last part in his Tobi voice and she grit her teeth.

He had won the battle before it even began...

Kasumi frowned and glared him right in his visible eye, "You bastard! Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep playing with my head? For once can't you act like a normal human being and get this through your thick skull: I hate you and I want nothing more to do with you, but you have done me wrong and I must avenge my clan!"

He chuckled, but it was not a happy sound. "How will you avenge your clan? Will you attack me? Kill me? Save yourself some time and give up."

She stood up from the bed and he watched her carefully, she was probably going to attempt some sort of pathetic attack.

"Madara... it's been eighty years since you've truly shown yourself to me right?" She didn't wait for him to answer as she continued, "Is this really how you imagined your great reveal to be?"

He narrowed his eyes at her as she smirked and said, "You haven't changed a bit... you're still the same pathetic man that couldn't even hold onto what he claimed was his."

Instantly, Kasumi was pinned against the wall, but her smirk never faltered as she finished off, "How strange, I was bluffing but you actually fell for it."

Madara's eyes widened when she suddenly turned into a pile of ashes right in his hands. He frowned and ran out of the room in pursuit of her, if she thought she was going to get away with a simple transformation jutsu she was wrong.

She shot down the hallways and into the training room within five seconds because she knew she probably only had ten before he found her.

Then, she grabbed a long katana and ran into the middle of the training field. He ran in a second after that and by then she was doing strange seals and her chakra was flaring around her.

"Imperial World Resurrection!" she yelled and a coffin shot out of the ground. She gave him a wide grin and said, "We need a tie breaker don't we? I think your brother would be the perfect person."

Madara couldn't help but be surprised when the coffin opened and his brother walked out. At first Izuna looked confused and when he saw Madara he said, "Madara? Is that you? Why are you wearing that mask?"

"Why don't you kill him again? At least this time you can do it in person," Kasumi said before he could reply.

Izuna suddenly stiffened and drew a katana, which he pointed at Madara. "Brother, I don't want to fight you... but you know how Imperial World Resurrection works," Izuna said and charged at him.

The older Uchiha's frown deepened as he deflected blows from his brother.

He had really messed up this time, he shouldn't have underestimated Kasumi and because he did he had to kill his brother before he could attack her.

"Izuna, I did not wish to kill you, Danzo was not and will never be on my side," Madara explained and as his brother continued to charge at him, Izuna said, "I know... but it is too late for you."

Suddenly, he latched onto Madara and began to light up. He barely had enough time to jump out of the way as Izuna blew up in a colossal explosion.

As he was trying to figure out what happened, Kasumi flew out of no where and threw her sword at him.

He managed to teleport his head in time and the sword simply went through him.

She cursed quietly, but realized she had miscalculated when she couldn't see through the smoke from the explosion.

Madara knew this well and he said, "Looks like I have the advantage now."

He was about to grab her from behind, but all of a sudden Izuna shot out of the smoke and at him.

What...? Hadn't he blown up?

Once again, Kasumi was able to get away and he was left to spar with his brother.

"Izuna, how are you here?" Madara demanded when he knew there was no way he should be here.

His younger brother gave him a cruel smirk, before in a female voice saying, "Oh please, just call me Kasumi."

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her. She had tricked him; there had never been an Imperial World Resurrection, it was just her clone in disguise.

She exploded in a puff of smoke and the real Kasumi came at him from behind.

Her sword managed to land a hit on him and he had a long gash on his back.

He teleported away again and from some distance away he heard her yell, "That's right! Run you damn coward!"

Madara hissed at the feeling of pulsating pain on his back and cracked his knuckles. This had to end, now.

He found her chakra and teleported behind her. However, she had been expecting this so she turned around to try and give him a round about kick.

The Uchiha easily caught her kick, but she was already leaning forward to try and stab him.

Kasumi's sword was centimetres away from his chest when he grabbed her arm and twisted it away from himself, thus making her loose grip of her sword and drop it.

She grit her teeth as he then let go of her leg and used his free hand to seize her by the throat and throw her down to the ground.

A tiny trickle of blood began to flow from her mouth and out of spite she spat at his mask.

He glared down at her before he teleported both of them back to her and 'Tobi's' room. She clearly wasn't pleased with this because she gathered chakra in her hands in an attempt to force his hand off her.

It didn't work because he used his own chakra to counter it. By now, she was breathing hard and running out of any ideas.

"You've improved... but not enough," he sneered and pulled her up to pin her against the wall.

She didn't say anything as he reached to the side of his head to unclip his mask.

The mask fell away and for the first time in many years he showed his face to another living human being.

Her gaze softened when she saw his face and she whispered, "Madara... you look a lot better without the mask on."

He was a bit taken back by her sudden compliment and she took advantage of that momentary surprise to lean forward and with all the force she could muster, smash her forehead into his.

It seemed to hurt her more than him because she groaned, while he simply narrowed his eyes.

However, it hurt him on a different level. In a little shred that was the left-overs of his heart, he felt a strange ache.

She still despised him and he knew there was little he could do to change that.

A bruise was forming on both of their foreheads, but Madara ignored it and said, "Kasumi, listen to me for once. I am not allied with Danzo, he is my enemy and I do not want to kill you. Do you understand?"

At first she looked blank, until finally she sighed and said, "I do."

His heart seemed to hurt a bit less as he continued, "When you disappeared... I was broken and I thought you were dead. I vowed to never care for any once else anymore and I created the Akatsuki to destroy Konoha and Danzo."

She seemed to be paying more attention to him so he said, "Killing my clan was the first part of that plan and the second part is gathering all the tailed beasts to wipe Konoha off the face of the earth."

Concern slipped onto her features and she said, "But all those people... you want to kill them all?"

He nodded. "Konoha needs to be destroyed before I can begin taking over the ninja world... then at last I will bring peace."

The previous concern went away and it was replaced by confusion. "Peace? You think killing thousands of people will bring peace?"

"Yes, Konoha is just an example of what will happen to all the other ninja nations if they resist my power," he explained and a traitorous voice in her head agreed with the idea.

"Then... what are you going to do about me?" she asked and his face softened as he said, "I'm going to make you believe in me... and you will be mine once more. But this time, I will let you choose... do you, Kasumi, want to stay with me?"

Her eyes widened and at first all she could do was stare up in his eyes before she opened her mouth and whispered, "I want to stay with you."

A true, genuine smile formed on his lips and he leaned down to give her a long, much needed kiss.

...

Warning: Spoiler for Naruto manga 505+

...

Zetsu, Kasumi, Sasuke and Madara sat in the main Akatsuki meeting room wearing serious faces.

Madara had just brought them news that Naruto had gotten control of the Kyuubi and killed Kisame.

So now it was just the four of them... everyone else was dead, except for Konan, who left.

Pein... Deidera... Itachi... Kisame...Kakuzu... Hidan...

"It doesn't matter if Naruto has control of the Kyuubi or not, we are still stronger than him and after we seal him, victory will be ours," Madara said and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

It was just Naruto against them, all the other pathetic ninja of Konoha didn't even deserve to be counted.

"We have to act now before he learns all of his new found powers," Kasumi said and Zetsu added, "Madara can teleport us, _but I don't trust his technique_, you should, he is our leader and he has never failed us yet, _key word 'yet'._"

Zetsu continued to argue with himself for a while, but then he was done Sasuke said, "We should move out this evening and catch them off guard."

All the others agreed and it was settled, they would take on Naruto this evening.

When Kasumi and Madara were alone in their room, she said, "Madara... I'm worried... what if the Kyuubi is stronger than we thought?"

He sat down on the bed beside her and asked, "What's gotten into you? You're never worried about these things... is something wrong?"

"I don't know... It's just a bad feeling... I don't want you to get hurt," she answered with a small smile.

The Uchiha put his hand on her chin to make her look at him and he stated, "There is no need to worry, nothing will separate me from you."

Then he kissed her and she gingerly kissed back. Even though they had officially been together for five months now, she was still not used to being so close with him.

Needless to say, Madara still hadn't gotten laid.

When he broke the kiss off, she gave him another smile and went to go prepare for battle.

He too got ready and the entire time he worried about what Kasumi had said. She only got worried when something truly horrible was going to happen.

Shaking his head, he pushed the thought away. Victory would be theirs and there was no doubt about it.

Plus, half of the Kyuubi's power had been sealed away the day Naruto was born so the Kyuubi would be considerably weaker.

Still... that Naruto boy was very strong.

He shook his head again. Hadn't he just pushed the thought out of his head?

A few minutes later, Kasumi rejoined him and they were ready to head out in a couple of hours.

As usual, Sasuke sat around in his room all alone, Zetsu continued to argue with himself, Kasumi sat in Madara's arms, and Madara closed his eyes to think about any last minute details.

An hour later, it was getting dark and everyone got together for the final briefing.

"Sasuke you will deal with Kakashi, Zetsu you get to deal with anyone else that interferes, Kasumi, you and I will take care of Naruto and you will use your fake Imperial World Resurrection to confuse him. Try bringing back his parents because he really has such a weak spot for them," Madara explained and everyone took a moment to memorise their part of the plan.

When they were ready, they all put a hand on Madara and he teleported them to the 'secret' island.

From then on, not a single word was said as each of them found their intended victims and attacked.

Sasuke found a very surprised looking Kakashi and attacked him without any remorse.

At first they looked evenly matched, but then Sasuke activated his Sharingan and easily over powered him.

Zetsu found a bunch of people in a tent and he argued with himself over who to eat first before simply slaughtering all of them and continuing the argument.

Kasumi and Madara found Naruto very quickly by the sound of loud yelling. He was screaming something that sounded like a pathetic excuse for a rap at Killerbee.

When they were spotted, the blond had a major hissy fit, turned into a yellow blur and ran at them.

Madara was left to deal with him for a while as Kasumi began fighting with Killerbee. It was much harder than she originally expected and for a few minutes she even found she was being pushed back.

Thinking fast, she did the seals for the Ice Claw Jutsu, but then swung her hand at him, thus making the claws rip off her hands and shoot at him at monstrous speed.

One of them hit him straight through the heart, but it didn't kill him. She took that distraction to tie him up, knock him out and she used a recently learned seal to send him to one of the jail cells in the Akatsuki base.

Finally, she was free to cast her fake Imperial World Resurrection and get closer to the battle currently going on with Madara.

He looked unharmed, but neither was Naruto. They were perfectly matched and Kasumi noticed Madara had to keep teleporting to avoid Naruto's blows.

Naruto suddenly turned to look at her and when he saw his parents he momentarily faltered, giving Madara the opportunity to slash him across the side.

The blond fell to the ground one second, but the next he was running straight at her.

She was fast, but not as fast as him because when she tried to attack him with her katana he easily deflected her blows and knocked her down to the ground.

Instead of looking upset, she smirked and Madara came behind the teen to give him another slash on the side.

Once again, Naruto ran a considerable distance away to recompose himself and think of a new plan of attack.

Kasumi stood up and directed her clones that looked like Naruto's parents to run at him and attack him, all the while saying they didn't want to and this was all done against their will.

The Fourth ran at Naruto first and he said, "Son, I am glad I get to see our family together, but not like this... kill me or I will kill you."

The teen seemed completely distraught and then his mother charged at him. "Son, I am sorry this has been forced on you... kill us or Madara will get his hands on you and the ninja world will be doomed.

Madara was actually quite impressed; Kasumi was doing a great job impersonating their voices and attacks.

Suddenly, Naruto started turning red and he yelled, "You're not my parents!"

Then he destroyed both of the clones in an instant and started charging at her again, all the while yelling, "How dare you try and fool me!"

She got into a defensive position, but Madara suddenly stood in front of her and said, "Go get Sasuke."

Kasumi complied and she found the young Uchiha staring at the dying body of his former teacher. "Sasuke, come on, Madara needs you."

He got up, cast Kakashi one last look and then ran in the direction of the battle.

Madara seemed a little worn out now and he even stopped trying to teleport out of the way. Instead, he blocked the blows with his hands and it seemed to be doing quite a number on him.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled suddenly and the blond instantly appeared in front of them.

"This is between you and me," the Uchiha continued and charged at his former best friend.

Meanwhile, Kasumi ran over to Madara as quickly as she could manage.

"Madara... what happened to you?"

To be continued!

Everything should explain itself next chapter if it's too confusing now. But just to clear things up, if you haven't read Naruto Manga 505 you might be a little confused. Although in the end Kisame is fighting with Might Gai, I think he's going to die so that's why all of this happens. Oh and one last note, Madara, Zetsu and Sasuke don't attack Naruto in the manga, that only happens in this story.

Reviews?


	23. The Accursed Mask

The battle continues! But who will come out victorious?

Chapter 23- The accursed mask.

"Madara... what happened to you?"

He staggered toward her and said, "I'm fine, I just underestimated him, that's all."

Kasumi shook her head and went to go help him sit down. His mask was cracked and there were slashes all over him.

But... when had this happened?

She had only been gone for a couple of minutes... was Naruto really this strong?

Suddenly, there was the sound of an explosion and Sasuke's unconscious body flew toward them.

Impossible... Sasuke was strong... no... too weak for this it seemed.

Naruto was suddenly standing in front of them and he said, "You're Madara... but who are you?"

She stood up from Madara's side and said, "Kasumi, last remaining survivor of the Mountain Clan."

He nodded and muttered something along the lines of 'why does she have to be on his side?' before he looked at Madara and said, "I'm giving you one last chance to surrender."

"Never. You brat, you will never understand all the trouble I have went through to get here," Madara seethed as he ripped his mask off his face and stood up to fight again.

Naruto didn't even seem fazed as he continued, "Give up, you know how this will end."

No one knew how it would end... _not even time itself_.

Kasumi cast a pleading glance at Madara, who frowned and charged at the blond.

Everything looked like someone had pressed the fast forward button because when Madara was around to punch Naruto, the teen disappeared and all of a sudden the Uchiha was flying through the air and into a tree.

There was a sickening cracking noise and both Kasumi and Naruto actually winced at it before running over to him.

He was barely conscious as she muttered his name over and over again.

Naruto stared at the scene sadly, he didn't want to hurt anyone, but he didn't have a choice. This was the man that had created chaos in the entire ninja world and started the Fourth Ninja War.

"Madara... Madara... stop this please... you don't need to keep getting hurt... we can teleport away," she tried to convince him as he opened his blood red eyes to look at her.

"No, we will fight and we will win, you just wait and see," he reassured her, but they both knew it was futile.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she remembered the first thing she had heard when she had come to this time.

The poem...

She looked at Madara and then back at Naruto. There was no way they could win... it had to be done.

She helped him stand up and then did a couple of hand seals before she clapped and the dark night sky began to cloud over.

Naruto didn't pay attention to it as he once again ran at the couple.

Madara blocked his attacks, while Kasumi stood frozen and chanted an ancient spell her clan had created.

It was a forbidden jutsu reserved only for life and death situations and if this wasn't one, Kasumi didn't know what was.

"_Oh brother hell, do hear my call,_

_ As I give my soul to you before I fall."_

Madara turned to look at her sharply when she said the second line. Was she truly giving up her soul or was it just a lyric?

The now cloudy sky began turning red and mist came out of no where. Naruto still paid no heed to any of this as he continued charging at Madara.

"_Oh mother earth, do know my dreams,_

_ As I __turn them true through my seams."_

Everything in sight was now a rich blood red and they had stopped fighting to see what was going to happen next.

"_Oh father heaven, do forgive my heart,_

_ As I bleed it out to stop the start."_

Suddenly, Naruto froze and a pillar of light broke through the red to shine down at him. The clouds above began to twist around the pillar and the teen was completely paralyzed as Kasumi continued.

"_But brother hell, it is not my soul I pay._

_ But __mother earth, it is not my dreams I say._

_ Yet father heaven, it is my heart I sway."_

By now, Naruto was trying to struggle out of the strange light that was holding him stuck. But it was too late...

"_Brother hell, do take Uzumaki Naruto's soul._

_ Mother earth, do take __Uchiha Madara's dreams._

_ Father heaven, do take my heart."_

Naruto's anguished screams broke through the deadly silence of the mist as a small white orb ripped out of his body and after one last scream it turned black and disappeared underground.

"_Brother hell, you are done."_

At first his body looked like it died, but then his eyes turned red and a deep, demonic voice said, "Foolish Kasumi, you have now given me, the Kyuubi, Naruto's body!"

Madara's eyes widened and he quickly activated his Sharingan to try and over power him.

However, it was not necessary because roots reached out from the earth, tied him up and knocked him unconscious.

"_Mother earth, you are done."_

Madara turned around to look at Kasumi and just at that moment she unclasped her hands and fell to the ground.

Blood began to pool around from where her heart was and she whispered, "_Father heaven, you are done_."

"Kasumi! What did you do?" Madara demanded, but she could hear the edge of worry laced into his tone.

"I have given us victory... and don't worry about me. You survived getting stabbed in the heart, why shouldn't I?" she tried to joke.

"We could have won another way, you didn't have to do this," he whispered as he cupper her cheek in his hand.

"When I came to this time... I heard the lyrics of this jutsu... and I knew why I was sent here... to help you Madara...," she trailed off to let out a painful string of coughs.

He shook his head and when she was done he knew she only had a moment before it was too late.

"Kasumi... I should have told you this eighty years ago... _I love you_," he whispered and leaned in to kiss her.

He broke the kiss off and with the last of her strength she smiled at him and whispered, "_I love you too..._"

And the rest was silence.

...

Danzo watched with narrowed eyes as Kasumi suddenly began to glow in an unearthly white light before her eyes snapped open and she stared up at him.

...What...?

She jumped up from the ground and demanded, "Danzo! What the hell are you doing here? Where am I?"

He didn't know what to say to her. One moment she was asking him why he was going to kill her and the next she didn't know where she was.

"You are in Konoha's forest. Did you forget or did the fear make you insane?" he couldn't help but add the jab at the end.

Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat.

She... she was back?

A happy grin lit up her face and she yelled, "I'm alive! And... and I'm back! I don't believe how lucky I am!"

Danzo raised an eye brow at her. From where exactly was she back? She hadn't even been anywhere.

Suddenly, Izuna ran into the small clearing they were in and when she saw him her eyes lit up even more. "Izuna! You're alive too!"

Both men gave her confused glances as she continued to cheer about how good it was to be alive.

Out of the blue, she stopped, did a few hand signs and in a deadly low voice said, "But you Danzo, are not going to be alive. You are the reason I left in the first place... you are the reason my clan will die, the reason the Uchiha clan will be wiped out and eighty-one years in the future, Madara is going to wipe Konoha off the face of the earth because of you."

She didn't elaborate any further as she did the last hand sign of the jutsu and her hands became encased in ice.

"I will avenge my clan," was all she said as she ran at him with lightning speed and stabbed him right through the heart.

Then, just to make him suffer more, she ripped his heart out and said, "You will suffer like I did... this is how I died."

Kasumi let do of his body, his heart and made the ice claws disintegrate.

"When did you get that fast?" Izuna asked her, but then he added, "And that violent, I thought you were more of the 'clear cut' killer type."

She smiled at him and said, "That's for me to know and for you to never, ever find out."

Then she was running toward the cave she had left Madara in and Izuna ran after her. He still didn't understand any of this... and what was all the stuff she said about the Uchiha clan being wiped out?

A few minutes later, Kasumi shot into the cave and toward Madara, who looked surprised to see her running so fast at him.

She stopped right in front of him and after taking a deep breath she said, "Madara! Listen to me and listen well because I'm only going to say it once. You will not kill the Uchiha clan, you will not create a secret organization called the Akatsuki and you will definitely not try to destroy Konoha!"

He was silent for a second before he said, "Why would I destroy Konoha?"

"Because, I disappeared and Izuna is dead," she answered matter of factly and Izuna, who was standing right there, checked his pulse before he said, "But you're right here and I'm alive."

Kasumi turned to grin at him, but didn't say anything else on the matter.

Then Madara continued, "When did you get so fast?"

She wagged her finger at him and said, "No more questions, you need to rest and then take charge of the Uchiha clan again."

He shook his head and decided she was only saying these weird things because she had suddenly turned insane.

As an after thought, she added, "Oh, and if I see you wearing anything orange or speaking in high pitch I will personally set you on fire."

Yup, definitely insane.

...

Madara, Izuna and Kasumi walked into the Uchiha base early the next morning and they were expecting people to be surprised... but they weren't expecting... this.

The second people saw Madara they began running around town screaming his name. But that wasn't the strange part.

The strange part was when a huge mob of people gathered around him and tried to lift him up to parade him around town.

By then, they were all creeped out by this so they ran into the Uchiha clan mansion, closed the gates and decided to wait for the crowd to calm down before he made his 'I'm your leader again' speech.

Meanwhile, Kasumi went back to her and Madara's room to promptly burn the rug and bury the ashes in the garden outside.

"So, Mr. Wise guy, what do we do now?" Izuna asked when they found a quiet room to sit in where they didn't hear the crowds screaming.

"They will calm down and eventually stupid Harashima will show up to see me," Madara replied with a sigh.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a door being opened and a voice said, "Madara! You're alive!"

Before Madara could see who it was, he was getting bear hugged from a very happy looking Harashima Senju.

Harashima + Madara + Bear hug... how strange...

Izuna and Kasumi watched with growing amusement as Madara tried to wrestle out of the Hokage's grip, but simply couldn't and in the end resorted to swearing quietly.

When everything was explained and everyone had calmed down, Harashima said, "Madara, I want to ask you something..."

Kasumi couldn't resist but laugh as she whispered to Izuna, "He's going to ask Madara to marry him."

The Uchiha had heard and he shot them both death glared as the Hokage continued, "Will, you be my head advisor, my right hand, my go to person?"

Madara's glare disappeared and after a moments consideration he said, "I will, but on one condition. Get rid of the crazy mob outside my house."

"Done," Harashima finalized and they shook on it.

...

"Kasumi, I've been worried about you lately. You've been all happy and cheerful and no matter how much I try to sour your mood," Madara said as he tried to get his thoughts across to Kasumi.

She just gave him another one of those wide 'I know something you don't know' grins and said, "Stop worrying, I'm just glad to be happy and here with you. This is much better than being stuck with you when you went through that whole 'I'm Tobi, but really I'm not' faze."

He narrowed his eyes and said, "Who is this Tobi person you keep mentioning?"

"You, but forget about that now, the future is no longer the actual future so none of it matters," she tried to get him off the subject again.

Madara shook his head and grabbed the sides of her head to make her look at him as he demanded, "Kasumi, tell me what you saw. I want to know everything."

She stared into his eyes sadly before she sighed and began, "When Danzo attacked me in the woods... Izuna died and somehow that sent me eighty years in the future..."

"...and then I died... but next thing I know, I'm on the ground in front of Danzo," she finished after a good hour of explaining everything she had seen.

Madara hadn't interrupted her once and he sat silent for a couple more minutes until he asked, "So in the end you still never managed to defeat me in battle?"

"I came close! If you want proof we can fight it out right here, right now!" she defended her pride and folded her arms.

Then he looked a little more serious and in a deep, husky tone asked, "And I didn't say anything else to you before you died?"

There was a small nervous chuckle. She had omitted the part where they exchanged their true feelings for each other.

"Well... you did... bu-"

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Izuna walked in. "Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but Harashima Senju wants to talk to you."

Madara sighed and said, "Again? He's the Hokage and I'm his top advisor right? Then why does he keep calling on me?"

Izuna just shook his head and coaxed, "The sooner you finish with him, the sooner you and Kasumi can go back to... whatever it was you were doing."

The Uchiha clan leader sighed again, but did as he was asked.

He may not have ended up being Hokage, but he wasn't sure he wanted to anymore because of the simply insane amount of paper work there was to be done.

"Have fun Madara!" Kasumi called after him and he gave her a look that said 'this isn't over' before he walked out of the room.

When he was gone, she let out a sigh of relief and flopped down on their bed.

For the past week they had been sharing the bed and there hadn't been a single problem... well... except for she had to look out and make sure he didn't roll on top of her in the middle of the night and suffocate her to death...

...But they had easily solved that by taking advantage of Madara's obsession of grabbing her by the waist as they fell asleep.

As Kasumi waited for Madara to come back, she decided to finally take the time to snoop around Madara's stuff.

First, she looked through the drawers, but found nothing interesting. Second, she looked through his closet, but all she found there was, well, clothes.

Finally, she decided to take one last chance at entertaining herself by checking under the bed.

There was something almost flat and round lying at the very back and she was determined to get it.

To her misfortune, the bed was large and half of her had to be under the bed in order for her to reach this strange object.

Just as her hand grabbed onto it, there was a strange chuckle and a deep voice said, "Kasumi, what are you doing?"

Caught like a kid with their hand in a beehive.

Only in this case, Madara was the giant bee and it wasn't just her hand that was stuck.

"Madara... um... this isn't what it looks like," she offered and she could already imagine the amused smirk on his face.

"So then tell me, what are you doing?" he asked and she laughed nervously before she said, "Oh you know... I was just... looking around..."

"Under my bed?" he asked, but then added, "I should have known you always liked sleeping on the floor."

She gasped and reflexively tried to stand up, but banged her head against the bottom of the bed and groaned.

"Need some help?" he finally offered when he noticed she had stopped moving.

"No... I'm fine... and just for your information, I do not like sleeping on the floor!" Kasumi replied as she gripped the strange object she had reached for in the first place.

It was too dark for her to see what it was, but she could tell it had one little hole in it.

Madara's voice broke her out of her musings, "So you're just going to sit under the bed all day?"

Scoffing, she replied, "And what if I am?"

He chuckled again and she gasped when he grabbed her ankles and with one precise yank, pulled her out from under the bed.

"Kasumi... why are you holding my mask?"

"Your mask? What..." she trailed off when she saw she was holding an orange mask with a spiral design and one hole for the eye.

She instantly jumped up from the floor and declared, "I am going to burn this!"

Madara raised an eye brow at her and grabbed the mask from her hands before explaining, "This is the mask I wore when I was a child."

Kasumi looked at him, the mask, and then back at him. "You... you wore that as a child?"

Within the second, she burst out laughing and he glared at her, how dare she laugh at the most beautiful mask in the world!

She continued to laugh for a long time, until he got tired of it, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

The laughing stopped and she gingerly kissed back.

"Now, stop making fun of my childhood and sit down. I have something to tell you," Madara half ordered, half asked.

Kasumi did as she was told and he sat down beside her before he took her by the hand and began, "Hearing what might have happened in the future made me think about a lot of things."

He started to pull her closer as he continued, "I want you to know this, and never forget."

By now, their lips were almost touching and at last he finished, "I love you."

Madara kissed her and for the first time in both their lives, they were truly happy.

Truly free.

The end!

:) Hehehe, the story is done! Thank you all for reading this long and I just was to say a couple of things.

1. I wrote the poem myself, so that's why there are no credits for it at the end.

2. The ending is rather open, but I would rather it be open than really bad or just plain creepy.

3. The title of the story, Mist, symbolizes the freedom they each gained in the end and Kasumi also means 'mist'.

Once again, thanks for reading!

Any final thoughts?


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